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Author: 



Bishop, Joseph Bucklin 



Title: 



A chronicle of one 
hundred & fifty years 

Place: 

New York 

Date: 

1918 



9V-f-5i3oS-3 



MASTER NEGATIVE « 



COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION DIVISION 

BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET 



ORIGINAL MATERIAL AS FILMED ■ EXISTING BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD 



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Bishop, Joseph Bucklin, 1847- 

A chronicle of one hundred & fifty years ; the Chamber 
of commerce of the state of New York, 1768-1918, by 
Joseph Bucklin Bishop . . . New York, C. Scribner 's sons, 
1918. 

xvi p., 1 I, 311 p. front, plates, ports., facsim. 23i"°. ^$5.00^ 

Bibliography: p. 296. 

1. New York. Chamber of commerce of the state of New Y°f^„,Q 

Library of Congress HF296.N52 1918 

^— Copy 2. 

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CHRONICLE 
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THK CHAMBER of COMMERCE 

THE STATE o£NEWYORK 
176g ^ 191^ 



'BY 



JOSEPH BUCKXIN BISHOP 



,^ SlutbordB 
f^The Panama uateway^ 
^^residential T^omimttions 
itnd Elections etc. 



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^EW YORK. 

CHARLES SC5RIBNE»:S SONS 

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COPYRIGHT, 1918 
THE CHAMBER OP COMMERCE 
OP THE STATE OP NEW YORK 



COLUMBIA •JN1V?:RSITY LIBHARlE* 
William evarts a^NjAMiN Collection 




. • • 



INTRODUCTORY 

The founders of the Chamber of Commerce and the found- 
ers of the American Union were one and the same body of 
men. When they met on April 5, 1768, to establish their 
commercial society they had been for three years in the fore- 
front of the steadily rising tide of indignant opposition to 
British rule which was to cuhninate seven years later in the 
Revolution. They were engaged, some of them unconsciously, 
in the momentous task of founding a free and independent 
republic at the very moment when they came together to 
form a union of merchants in the interest of the peaceful pur- 
suits of commerce. 

Clear perception of these facts is necessary for a just ap- 
preciation of the high historic value of the Chamber's records. 
Emerson said of Lincohi that he was the "true history of the 
American people of his time." In the records of the Chamber 
of Commerce for a century and a half there is to be found a 
chronicle of the acts and the spirit of the American people, 
not only since they became a nation but also during the epoch- 
making period which immediately preceded that event, for 
the birth of the society autedated the adoption of the Con- 
stitution by twenty-one years. 

The patriotic spirit of the society's founders was disclosed 
unmistakably at their first meeting. They chose for Presi- 
dent John Cruger, the man who had drawn up in 1765, in 
the Stamp Act Congress of the Colonies assembled in New 
York City, the famous "Declaration of Rights and Grievances 
of the Colonies in America, " which was sent to the British 
Parliament. When in the same year the stamps arrived and 
the Royalist Governor had declared his purpose to enforce 



VI 



INTRODUCTORY 



the Act, there was a popular uprising against their reception, 
during which an effigy of the Governor was burned in Bowling 
Green. John Cruger, as Mayor of the city, attended by the 
aldermen, called upon the Governor and so impressed him 
with the danger which impended if he attempted to enforce 
the Act, that he promised to deliver the stamps to the city 
authorities. What next happened is thus recorded in the 
newspapers of the day: "They (the city authorities) accord- 
ingly soon after, accompanied with a Prodigious Concourse 
of People of all Ranks attended at the gate of the Fort, 
when the Governor ordered the Paper to be given up to them; 
and upon the Reception of it gave three cheers, carried it to 
the City Hall and dispersed. After which Tranquillity was 
restored to the City." 

That the members of the Chamber were in full sympathy 
with the patriotic views of their President was shown a year 
later when he was re-elected. He was at the same time 
Speaker of the last Colonial General Assembly ever gathered in 
the colony, and in the minutes of the session of the Chamber 
on May 2, 1769, it is recorded that "Mr. President reported 
that he had it in charge to give the Merchants of this city 
and colony the thanks of the House for their repeated, dis- 
interested, public spirited and patriotic conduct in declining 
the importation of goods from Great Britain until such Acts 
of Parliament as the General Assembly had declared un- 
constitutional and subversive of the rights and liberties of the 
people of this colony should be repealed." 

They were men who knew their rights and dared maintain 
them, but there was a difference of opinion among them as to 
the extent to which defense of their rights should be carried. 
When the time arrived to defend them by taking up arms 
against the mother country, many of them proved not equal 
to the test. They favored conciliation by means of resistance 
and protest but not to the point of revolution and separation. 



INTRODUCTORY 



vu 



It was inevitable that the activities of a sodety, founded at 
such a time and by such men, though nominally for "pro- 
moting and encouraging commerce," should be extended to 
a field with far wider boundaries than the words imply. From 
the very beginning, the Chamber took its place as an influ- 
ence in national affairs whenever there appeared in those 
affairs issues affecting the national welfare and honor, and the 
successors of the founders have adhered to that interpreta- 
tion of its functions down to the present day, not only in 
national but in state and municipal affairs as well. It is a 
noble tradition and nobly has it been maintained. 

Lord Morley cites in his "Recollections" a letter which 
somebody wrote to Mr. Gladstone near the close of his career: 
"You have so lived and wrought that you have kept the soul 
alive in England." No impartial reader of the records of the 
Chamber of Commerce for the past one hundred and fifty 
years can escape the conviction that it has so lived and 
wrought as to keep alive the patriotic spirit of its founders 
and thereby to aid in keeping alive the spirit of true patriot- 
ism in the land. In every crisis that has arisen since the 
foundation of the republic to the present time its voice, never 
hesitating, never doubtful, has been found on the side of 
right^ and justice and public honor. As primarily a com- 
mercial body, its history is interwoven with the commercial, 
financial, and industrial history of the whole country. As a 
body of public-spirited citizens, ready at aU times to uphold 
and advance good government, to secure justice and fair 
dealing among men, to cultivate and maintain a sound public 
opinion and a true conception of patriotism,— as a genuine 
moral force in the land,— the Chamber of Commerce has 
throughout its career exerted a powerful influence in sup- 
port of those agencies which make for progress and civiliza- 
tion. 



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CONTENTS 

PACK 

Introductory v 

CHAPTEK 

I. Founding of the Chamber x 

ORIGIN op the name — FIRST OF ITS KIND IN THE WORLD. 
1768. 

II. Social Habits of the Period 5 

PROCEEDINGS OF THE EARLY SESSIONS — REMOVAL TO NEW 
quarters — OPPOSITION TO BRITISH TAXATION. 1768- 
1770. 

III. Royal Charter for the Chamber 12 

ViaSSITUDES OF THE SEAL AND OF GOVERNOR COLDEN*S 
PORTRAIT. 1 770-1 774. 

IV. Early Stand for Honest Money 17 

STEPS in its interest AND IN THAT OF PURE FOOD AND 
BUSINESS INTEGRITY. 1768-1774. 

V. "The Good of Their Country" 22 

standard rates for COINS — ^prizes for FISH CATCHES. 

I770-I774. 

VI. Approach of the Revolution 25 

JOHN ADAMS'S views OF NEW YORK IN 1 7 74 — HIS ESTI- 
MATES OF MEMBERS OF THE CHAMBER. 1 7 74. 

Vn. Advent of the Revolution 28 

THE CHAMBER SPLIT IN TWAIN — ITS PROCEEDINGS AS A 
LOYALIST BODY. 1775-1783. 

Vm. British Evacuation of New York 34 

RETURN of WASHINGTON AND PATRIOT EXILES — ^BANQUET 
CUSTOMS OF THE FATHERS. 1 783. 

iz 



h 



X CONTENTS 

CHAPTEK VKOX 

IX. Reorganization of the Chamber 39 

CHARTER REVIVED BY THE STATE — ^APPROVAL OF ERIE 
CANAL — MEMORIAL AGAINST FIAT MONEY. 1784-1793. 

X. The Jay Treaty ^^ 

VALUABLE SUPPORT BY THE CHAMBER — RESULTS EF- 
FECTED SESSIONS INTERRUPTED BY YELLOW FEVER 

— ^INTERREGNUM OF ELEVEN YEARS. 1794-1806. 

XI. Revival of the Chamber <2 

FREE-TRADE ATTITUDE OF THE MEMBERS — NATIONAL 
BANKRUPTCY LAW FAVORED — REMOVAL TO THE MER- 
CHANTS* EXCHANGE. 1817-1827. 

Xn. Active Interest in Public Affairs 57 

aTY, STATE, AND NATIONAL QUESTIONS CONSIDERED — 
ERIE RAILROAD FAVORED BURNING OF THE MER- 
CHANTS* EXCHANGE. 1827-1836. 

XIII. Fresh Life in the Chamber ($i 

ADDITIONAL MEMBERS ELECTED GROWTH IN PROTECTION 

SENTIMENT. 1840-1849. 

XIV. New Quarters and Broader Activities .... 65 

SUPPRESSION OF PRIVATEERING SOUGHT — MEETINGS IN 
CLINTON HALL — FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. 1851-1858. 

XV. The Civil War yi 

PROMPT ACTION OF THE CHAMBER IN SUPPORTING THE 
GOVERNMENT AND THE NATIONAL CREDIT. 1 86 1. 

XVI. Rebuke to Pacifists m^ 

LEGAL-TENDER ISSUE FAVORED LETTERS FROM JOHN 

BRIGHT AND ADMIRAL FARRAGUT. 1862-1863. 

XVII. "Alabama" Acts Condemned gj 

A CAMPAIGN OF EDUCATION IN THE CASE — REWARDS FOR 
THE VESSEL'S CAPTORS. 1863-1864. 



CONTENTS xi 

CRAPTXK '^®* 

XVIII. End of the War 86 

SURRENDER OF LEE — ^DEATH OF LINCOLN — DELEGATION 
TO THE FUNERAL GRATEFUL LETTER FROM SECRE- 
TARY SEWARD — CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE 
CHAMBER. 1865-1868. 

XIX. Efforts for Honest Government 9* 

COMMITTEE OF SEVENTY AND TWEED-RING DEFEAT — 
SUPPORT OF POLICE INVESTIGATION — CHOLERA SCARE. 
187I-1894. 

XX. Assassination op Garfield 96 

FUND FOR HIS* FAMILY — FAITH OF THE CHAMBER IN 
PRESIDENT ARTHUR. 1 88 1. * 

XXI. War with Spain 99 

PROMPT SUPPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT — PANAMA 
CANAL TOLLS — VALUABLE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE 
FROM MR. CHOATE. 1898-I914. 

XXn. Rapid-Transit Solution 105 

RECORD OF THE CHAMBER — THIRTEEN YEARS OF LEAD- 
ERSHIP IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SUBWAYS. 1894- 
1907. 

XXIII. Rapid Transit — Continued no 

RECOGNITION OF MR. HEWITT*S SERVICES GOLD MEDAL 

AWARDED AND STATUE ERECTED TO HIS MEMORY — 
MEDALS ALSO FOR MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION. 
1894-I907. 

XXIV. Sound-Money Record 114 

UNBROKEN FOR ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS — 
DEMANDS FOR RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS — 
OPPOSITION TO FREE SILVER. 1768-1918. 

XXV. Commercial Arbitration 120 

HISTORY OF THE CHAMBER'S EXPERIENCE FROM EARLI- 
EST TIMES — SUCCESS OF THE SYSTEM. 1768-1918. 



xu 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAOX 

XXVI. The Atlantic Cable 128 

SUPPORT OF THE PROJECT BY THE CHAMBER — PREC- 
OGNITION OF CYRUS W. field's SERVICES. 1858- 
1895. 

XXVII. The Washington and Sherman Statues . . . 132 

SECURED for THE CITY BY THE CHAMBER — ^DEDICA- 
TION exercises. 1 883-1 903. 



XXVIII. A Visit to London 



139 



guests of the LONDON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE — ^A 
WEEK OF ENTERTAINMENTS WITH A NOTABLE BAN- 
QUET. 1 901. 

XXIX. Early Homes of the Chamber 144 

FAMOUS historic BUILDINGS WHICH IT HAS OCCUPIED 
— ITS LATER TEMPORARY ABODES. 1768-I902. 

XXX. The Chamber's Permanent Home 155 

FUND FOR ITS CONSTRUCTION — GREAT HALL AND 

PORTRAIT GALLERY DEDICATION 'EXERCISES — 

STATUES AND MEMORIAL TABLET. 1902-I9II. 

XXXI. The European War 164 

PREPAREDNESS AND UNIVERSAL SERVICE FAVORED — 
DECLARATION OF WAR APPROVED — PORT WAR BOARD 
SECURED. 1914-I918. 



XXXn. Relief and Other Funds 

AID FOR PERSONS IN DISTRESS FROM CALAMITIES — 
FUNDS FOR THE BENEFIT OF FAMILIES OF DIS- 
TINGUISHED PERSONS TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS, 

$3,500,000. 1 793-1918. 



169 



XXXIII. Officlal and Other Duties 173 

SELECTION AND REGULATION OF PILOTS — WARE- 
HOUSING AND seamen's WAGES — SAILORS' SNUG 
HARBOR — NAUTICAL SCHOOL — SAILORS' HOTELS 
OR BOARDING-HOUSES — COMMERCIAL EDUCATION. 
I791-1918. 



T^ 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTXS 

XXXIV. 



xiu 



PAGE 



Banquets in the Early Days 179 

fines upon absentees — ^distinguished guests 
invited — ^annual banquets established as a 
permanent institution in 1873. 1769-1805. 



XXXV. Earliest of the Modern Banquets . . . . 184 

SPEECH BY WILLIAM M. EVARTS — PRESIDENT HAYES 
AND OTHER DISTINGUISHED GUESTS — YORKTOWN 
ANNIVERSARY — GENERAL GRANT ON HYPHENATED 
AMERICANS. 1873-1883. 

XXXVI. Statue of Liberty Banquets 189 

SPEECHES BY FREDERIC R. COUDERT — LETTER FROM 
A. BARTHOLDI. 1885-1886. 

XXXVn. Joseph Chamberlain Chief Guest of Honor . 194 

SPEECHES by him AND BY L. Q. C. LAMAR, SECRE- 
TARY OF THE INTERIOR. 1887. 



XXXVni. GoLDwiN Smith Chiep Guest of Honor . . 197 

GENERAL SHERMAN ON "LOYALTY TO THE FLAG" — 
CLEVELAND ON "WHAT TO DO WITH EX-PRESI- 
DENTS." 1888-1889. 

XXXIX. Financial Crisis of 1890 201 

SERVICES RENDERED BY MERCHANTS — ^PRESIDENT 
ELIOT ON HARVARD GRADUATES — LAST APPEAR- 
ANCE AND SPEECH OF GENERAL SHERMAN — G. W. 
CURTIS ON WASHINGTON IRVING. 1890. 

XL. John Hay on Diplomacy 205 

Cleveland's second election — lord herschell 

a guest — LETTER FROM PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT. 
1892-I902. 



XLI. Lord Morley Chief Guest op Honor . . . 

SPEECHES BY BISHOP GREER, GENERAL HORACE 
PORTER, AND JOSEPH H. CHOATE — THE GUESTS AT 
LATER BANQUETS. I904-I915. 



210 



T 






II 

iji 



»v CONTENTS 

CSAPTXa 

rAGB 

XLU. Formal Receptions jj^ 

FOREIGN VISITORS OF MANY NATIONALITIES THUS 
HONORED— ALSO EMINENT AMERICANS. 1893- 
I918. 

XLIII. Broad Scope of Later Work 222 

REVIVAL OF AMERICAN SHIPPING — RAPID TRANSIT — 
STATE POLICE — NEW WATER SUPPLY. I90O-I918. 

APPENDIX 

I. Founding of the Chamber 220 

II. Original Charter 233 

in. Reaffirmed Charter 242 

IV. By-Laws ^,g 

V. Officers of the Chamber 262 

VI. Officers and Committees of the Chamber of Com- 

MERGE FOR THE YeAR EnDING MaY, I918 ... 266 

VII. Roll of Members 271 

VIII. Catalogue of Portraits and Sculpture .... 293 

IX. Pubucations by the Chamber 296 

Index ^^^ 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

The Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York . Frontispiece 
JohnCniger - '^«^^«^ 

Reproductions from Original Stamps of the Stamp Act, 1 765 . 10 

Great Seal of the Chamber of Commerce, 1770 14 

City Hall and Great Dock. 1670 

Fraunces's Tavern, 1768 . . .^ 

' 3* 

Royal Exchange, 1754 

Merchants* Coffee House, 1737 

Tontine Coffee House, 1796 ^ 

Merchants' Exchange, 1827 ^ 

John Bright ... 

76 

Admiral David G. Farragut, U. S. N o. 

City HaU, New York, 1791 

The Battery, New York, 1793 

New York in 1706 . 

116 

The Federal City HaU, 1797 

The Government House, 1707 

* '^' 146 

Great HaU of the Chamber of Commerce, First View ... 158 

Great HaU of the Chamber of Commerce, Second View ... 162 






H 



xvi ILLUSTRATIONS 

f ACmC PAGB 
176 

Alexander Hamuton 

106 
George Washington 

Cadwallader Golden ^^^ 

View of Wall Street, 1850 ^^* 

Wall Street at the Glose of the Nineteenth Gentury .... 224 




CHRONICLE 

ONE HUNDRED C^ FIFTY 

YE^RS 



Hi 



CHAPTER I 



FOUNDING OF THE CHAMBER 

ORIGIN OF THE NAME — FIRST OF ITS KIND IN THE WORLD 

1768 

The New York Chamber of Commerce is the oldest insti- 
tution of its kind in the world. There were many mercantile 
associations in European countries before its advent, and 
one which adopted the same name three and a half centuries 
earlier, but all these had official connection with the govern- 
ments under which they existed and were subject to official 
control. They were not, like the New York society, ab- 
solutely independent of government connection and super- 
vision of all kinds, free to act and give expression to opinion 
or advice in matters of public policy and welfare. 

France has the honor of establishing the first mercantile 
association under the name of Chamber of Commerce. This 
occurred early in the year 1400, under a government grant 
which vested it with extraordinary jurisdiction in deciding 
commercial questions. The society was several times sup- 
pressed and regularly restored, and received a definite organ- 
ization in 1650. Similar associations were formed later in 
other towns in France, and iniyoo a Council General of Com- 
merce was created in Paris. This was composed of six Coun- 
cillors of State, and twelve merchants delegated by the prin- 
cipal towns of the kingdom. It was overthrown in the 
Revolution, and was revived by Napoleon. It has been 
subjected to various changes, but since 1852 the election of 
members has been regulated by law, the term of office being 
six years. France has a Minister of Commerce who is a 
member of the Cabinet and whose department maintains a 



2 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

close relation with the Chambers of Commerce throughout the 

republic. 

In Great Britain, Boards of Trade date from the time of 
Charles II, but no association with the name of Chamber of 
Commerce was established till 1783, when one was founded 
in Glasgow, followed by one in Edinburgh in 1785, and a 
third in London in 1882. 

Modem . Chambers of Commerce appeared in Germany 
about the middle of the nineteenth century, but are under the 
control of the government and may be dissolved by it at any 
time. In Austria they are also under the control of the govern- 
ment, are regulated by law, and elect members to the House 
of Representatives. 

When on April 5, 1768, twenty merchants of the little co- 
lonial city of New York came together to form a mercantile 
union it was amid conditions that must have banished from 
their minds all thought of connection of any kind with the 
existing government. They had been for three years united 
in a series of protests against governmental action. The 
very air they breathed was charged with the spirit of free- 
dom and independence, of revolt against official domination. 
The success of their union for protest had doubtless in- 
spired them with the idea of a commercial imion for the pro- 
tection and promotion of their business interests. They had 
deliberately crippled those interests rather than submit to 
denial of their rights and Uberties by the government, and 
their chief purpose in coming together was to form a united 
front in case of further struggles of the same kind. 

The way in which they proceeded to effect an organiza- 
tion showed that they had come together with a clearly 
defined purpose and with a well-prepared plan. A declara- 
tion was submitted and adopted that "whereas mercantile 
societies have been found very useful in trading cities for 
promoting and encouraging commerce, supporting industry, 
adjusting disputes relative to trade and navigation, and pro- 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 3 

curing such laws and regulations as may be found necessary 
for the benefit of trade in general," the twenty persons present 
had convened to establish such a society. 

It was agreed that the society should consist of a Presi- 
dent, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Secretary and such num- 
ber of merchants as already had or afterward might become 
members, and should be called and known by the name of 
"The New York Chamber of Commerce." Without delay 
the meetmg proceeded to elect the officers of the new society, 
choosing unanimously the following: John Cruger, President; 
Hugh WaUace, Vice-President; Elias Desbrosses, Treasurer; 
and Anthony Van Dam, Secretary. Resolutions were adopted 
declaring that meetings should be held on the first Tuesday 
of every month, that quarterly meetings should be held in 
May, August, November, and February each year, at which 
the accounts of the Chamber of Commerce should be settled 
and ballots taken for the admission of new members. It 
was decreed that each member should pay an admission fee 
of five Spanish dollars and quarterly dues of one Spanish 
dollar. 

The primitive character of the community was strikingly 
revealed in the decree that a proper room for the meetings 
of the Chamber should "be provided at the expense of the 
members so that it doth not exceed one shilling per man, 
which each person is to pay to the Treasurer at their respec- 
tive meetings." 

The city at that time had only twenty thousand inhabitants 
and its northern limits stopped at the present City Hall. 
Contemporary prints show that it had the appearance of a 
provincial town of the present day, with two and three 
story buildings, abundant shade-trees' and generous lawns 
about the dwelling-houses, many of them extending down to 
the water-fronts. The value of the entire property of the city 
was less than that of a single one of many blocks in lower 
Broadway in 191 8, and its entire population was not equal 



u 



4 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

to that of two of the great modern office-buildings in the 
same section. The founders held their meeting in the prin- 
cipal coffee-house or restaurant in a building known as 
Fraunces's Tavern, which still exists, restored to its original 
form, under that historic name. As it was the first home of 
the Chamber, and its first sessions were held there in a room 
which remains virtually unchanged to-day, a brief history of 
it is given in another chapter. 

The full text of the resolutions adopted at the first meet- 
ing of the Chamber, together with the names of the twenty 
founders, will be found in the Appendix of this volume. His- 
torians have spoken of 1768 as the year of hope and promise 
and the beginning of the golden age of the colonial period. 
The twenty gentlemen who came together on that April 
evening were the recognized leaders of the community, 
true representatives of its social and political life as well as 
of its commercial activities. Their names reveal the cos- 
mopolitan character of the city, for in them can be traced 
Dutch, English, Scotch, Irish, Danish, German, and other 
lineage. Many of these names, passed on from honored 
father to worthy son, have persisted to this day, made familiar, 
not only by the presence of descendants, but in the nomen- 
clature of the city's thoroughfares. They and their descen- 
dants have been the writers of the city's history through many 
years, for in the proceedings of the society which they founded 
can be traced every important step of its growth in numbers, 
wealth, and power. 




JOHN CRUGER. 

First President of the Chamber of Commerce. 

Painted by Thomas Hicks in 1865 from an original miniature. Collection of the Chamber of Commerce. 



CHAPTER n 
SOCIAL HABITS OF THE PERIOD 

PROCEEDINGS OF THE EARLY SESSIONS — REMOVAL TO NEW 
QUARTERS — OPPOSITION TO BRITISH TAXATION 

I 768-1 770 

An eloquent historian of colonial days in New York, de- 
picting the disturbing change wrought in the Dutch city by 
the advent of Englishmen, especially shopkeepers, in large 
numbers, a decade or so before the founding of the Chamber 
of Commerce, writes: 

With new habits and hours of business the English also intro- 
duced a new beverage, which was destined to become one of the 
civilizers of the world, and to do more to refine society than any 
invention of science or act of legislation. Ale-drinking had given 
way to tea-drinking. The fair hands of lovely dames no longer 
swimg the heavy tankard, and the foam of beer marred no more 
the beauty of their rosy lips. Men left their deep potations to 
watch the graceful play of taper fingers dallying with delicate 
cups of porcelain and light spoons of precious metal. At the tea 
table woman reigned supreme. That soft influence which could 
humanize a Johnson, soon modified the relations of the sexes and 
added to social life a charm before unknown; yet not without a 
murmur here and there from some conservative Englishman, who 
would fain cling to the old customs. 

Whatever changes may have been caused in social life by 
the advent of tea, the merchants of 1768 seem to have es- 
caped the influence, for they were "swinging the heavy 
tankard'* of beer at their regular meetings and did not in- 
clude tea in their list of refreshments, for a formal statement 

s 



II 



6 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

of the articles of the Chamber adopted at its sixth meeting 
contained this provision: 

A proper room for the meeting of members of the Chamber of 
Commerce is to be provided, and the Treasurer is to have Bread 
and Cheese, Beer, Punch, Pipes and Tobacco, provided at the 
expense of the members present, so that it doth not exceed one 
shilling each man, which each person is to pay to the Treasurer 
at their respective meetings. 

The Treasurer was instructed at the first meeting to "pro- 
vide a strong chest wherein shall be deposited the cash, books 
and papers (of the Chamber) which is to have three different 
good locks and keys — one key to be kept by the President, 
one by the Treasurer, and the third by the Secretary; the chest 
for the present to be kept at the Treasurer's." 

As an inducement to regular attendance at meetings a 
system of fines was instituted which was maintained for many 
years. Every member not attending a monthly meeting 
must forfeit and pay to the Treasurer two shillings, unless a 
cause for absence, judged reasonable by the Chamber, was 
given. Sickness and six miles from the city were specified as 
reasonable excuses. 

The membership of the Chamber grew steadily and quite 
rapidly from the outset. At the second meeting the number 
was more than doubled by the election of twenty-one mem- 
bers. At the same meeting there were five absentees, four of 
whom gave excuses. Two were "not well," one was "in 
Connecticut," and a fourth "in the gout." There was a full 
attendance at the third meeting, but evidently there was a 
lack of promptness in assembling, for it was proposed that in 
future meetings any member not present at six o'clock should 
forfeit one shilling. It was also proposed that "every gentle- 
man who hath anything to propose shall do it in writing." 

Both proposals were put into effect at the fourth meeting. 
Eight members were fined for absence without excuse and 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 7 

twenty-two for "appearing after six o'clock." Fines for 
tardiness and absence without excuse were imposed rigorously 
at subsequent meetings and Usts of the offenders were pub- 
lished in the minutes. At one of the early meetings a new 
fine was imposed. Any member departing before the busi- 
ness was done, without excuse by the President, was to 
forfeit four shillings. Among the excuses for absence at a 
meeting were the following, which are of interest because of 
the spelling and the limit of distance required: "Blooman- 
dale," "flat Bush," "Setauket," and "Jerseys." Fines were 
evidently the favorite remedy for all kinds of troubles. It 
was decreed that any member failing to rise and address the 
chair when he had a proposal to make, or interrupting an- 
other member while speaking, should forfeit one shilling. It 
was voted in November, 1769, that only merchants should 
be eligible for membership. 

Two years after the foundation the admission fee was 
doubled. In March, 1770, it was resolved that as soon as the 
membership reached eighty each person admitted should 
pay ten Spanish dollars, and this should be the fee until the 
membership reached ninety, when it should be increased to 
twelve and a half Spanish dollars until there were one hun- 
dred members, and after that an increase of two and a half 
dollars for every additional ten members. At the same 
time it was resolved that three black balls should be suflScient 
to disqualify a candidate for admission when only thirty 
members were present; four when there were more than 
thirty; five when there were more than forty, and so on, an 
additional black ball for every increase of ten in the members 
present. 

The first audit of the Treasurer's accoimts, made in June, 
1769, showed that the three separate keys provided for the 
"strong chest" had not sufficed to keep its funds intact, for 
the auditing committee reported that the Treasurer owed the 
Chamber sixty-nine pounds, five shillings, and five pence. 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



No subsequent mention of the deficit appears in the record 
and it was doubtless made up by the Treasurer, for he was a 
highly honored merchant and citizen, and was continued in 
office for many years afterward. 

Before it had reached the end of its first year of existence 
the Chamber had in its membership a large majority of the 
merchants of the city and was a firmly established institu- 
tion. It had outgrown its quarters, and in February, 1769, 
it resolved to move for the reason that "it appears highly 
necessary for this Chamber to have a decent, large and com- 
modious room to meet in." A special committee of the Cham- 
ber was appointed to secure a room in the Royal Exchange 
and reported at the March meeting in 1769 that the Corpora- 
tion which controlled the building had agreed to pennit the 
Chamber to have the use of its large room free for one year 
from the ist of May following, on condition of making such 
repairs as were required, and after that time on payment of 
an annual rental of twenty pounds. A description of the 
Royal Exchange appears in the chapter on "Temporary 
Homes of the Chamber." 

Apparently there was no method of heating, for in October, 
1770, it was proposed that a "proper stove be erected at the 
lower end of this room for the comfort of members the ap- 
proaching Winter." Whether one was provided or not does 
not appear from the record, neither is any intimation given 
as to its character. The modem stove was unknown at that 
period, but the Franklin stove, familiar to this day, invented 
in 1742, was in general use in the colonies and may have been 
the one proposed for the Chamber. Franklin described the 
variety of his invention that he designed for public buildings 
as "in the form of temples cast in iron, with columns, cornices, 
and every member of elegant architecture." 

About the same time an entry appears of an account ren- 
dered by the Doorkeeper of the Chamber for fifteen pounds 
annual salary and two pounds, fifteen shillings, and two pence 



. , ^ff*"^"^ ""^^^^^^Bl^ 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 9 

for firewood and candles. A committee was appointed to 
"employ and agree with some fit person to make tables, etc., 
and put the said Room in order for the Chamber. " The his- 
torian of "Colonial New York," John Austin Stevens, Jr., 
writing in 1867 of the sessions of the society, said: 

The meetings of the Chamber in the last century were of a 
different fashion from that of the present day. Pleasure and 
business were joined together in these gatherings of the solid men 
of old New York. The hour of meeting was at six o'clock, and the 
debates were held over long tables, "where Bread and Cheese, 
Beer, Punch, Pipes and Tobacco" were regularly provided by the 
Treasurer, as ordered in the By-laws. The pipe was still in fashion 
among the old Knickerbockers; not the modem meerschaum but 
the good old Dutch clay of Holland, hogsheads of which appeared 
in the list of importations. Cigars were then uncommon, if at all 
known, to New Yorkers. 

If the cigar was little known at this time it seems to have 
come into quite general usage about twenty years later, for 
a traveller, writing of his experiences in the United States in 
1788, makes the following philosophic observations: 

The habit of smoking has not disappeared from the town with 
other customs brought in by its first Dutch founders. They 
chiefly smoke cigars from the Spanish islands. These are leaves 
of a fragrant tobacco six inches in length which are smoked with- 
out the aid of any instrument. This habit shocks the French. It 
must be distasteful to women as it destroys the sweetness of the 
breath. It will be condemned by the Philosopher as a super- 
fluous want. But it has one merit. It tends to meditation; it 
checks loquacity; the smoker asks a question; the reply does not 
come for two minutes after, and is a sound one. The cigar per- 
forms the part which the Philosopher drew from the glass of water 
which he drank when angry. 

During the period of its occupancy the Chamber seems to 
have defrayed all expenses for repairs. The Doorkeeper pre- 
sented bills for glazing windows at regular intervals and there 
was an outlay of twenty pounds for repairing the cupola, a 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



leak in which damaged the ceiling of the room. How so many 
windows needed glazing is not explained, but the breakage 
seems to have been a continuous performance. 

The Chamber contmued to occupy the room in the Royal 
Exchange Building till the beginning of the Revolution in 1775. 

While the members of the Chamber were all at this time 
loyal subjects of the British crown, they were strenuous and 
inflexible opponents of taxation without representation. 
Their first President, John Cruger, was the author of the cele- 
brated "Declaration of Rights and Grievances of the Colo- 
nists in America," which had been addressed by the first Con- 
gress of the colonies to the British Government in 1765. 
His name and that of many other members of the Chamber 
appeared in the list of two hundred New York merchants 
who bound themselves by solemn agreement on October 31, 
1765, to trade no more with Great Britain till the Stamp Act 
was repealed. As Mayor of New York, he had received from 
the Lieutenant-Governor of the colony, Cadwallader Colden, 
the consignment of stamps sent out to the colonists and sur- 
rendered by Colden to the city council after an infuriated mob 
had assembled before his house, torn up the palings about 
the Bowling Green and created with them a bonfire in which 
they burned his carriage with his efiigy in it. 

When, therefore, early in the year 1769, the British Par- 
liament passed an act imposing duties on tea, paper, glass, 
etc., professedly for revenue, it was inevitable that Mr. Cruger 
and his fellow merchants should renew the protest and re- 
affirm the action that they had taken in 1765. They did so 
as merchants rather than as members of the Chamber of 
Commerce, but it is very clear from the records that its mem- 
bers were leaders in the proceedings, for there appears in 
them, under date of May 2, 1769, this entry: 



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Mr. President reported that the Honourable House of Assembly 
had directed him to signify their thanks to the merchants of this 



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Reproductions from Original Stamps Used Under the Stamp Act 
Passed by the British Parliament, March 22, 1765. 

By courtesy of Mr. James Brown. 



A box of these stamps (each amounting to ^/g ster- 
ling) was found in the ruins of the old Houses of Par- 
liament when they were destroyed by fire in 1834. 
These specimens with others were sent out about that 
time to the late Mr. James Brown, of New York, one 
of the founders of Brown Brothers, merchant bankers, 
by his brother, the late Sir William Brown, M. P. 
from South Lancashire, England. 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



II 



If 



City and Colony for their Patriotic conduct in declining the Im- 
portation of Goods from Great Britain at this jmicture, which 
being read, was in the words following: 

Gentlemen: 

I have it in charge from the General Assembly to give the 
Merchants of this City and Colony the Thanks of the House for 
their repeated disinterested, publick spirited and patriotic conduct 
in declining the importation or receiving of goods from Great 
Britain, untill such Acts of Parliament as the General Assembly 
had declared unconstitutional and subversive of the Rights and 
Liberties of the People of this Colony, should be repealed. 

It was ordered by the Chamber that a committee be ap- 
pointed to "prepare and deliver a draught of thanks to the 
Honorable House for the particular notice they have taken of 
the Merchants that compose this Chamber." Mr. Cruger 
was Speaker of the Assembly as well as President of the 
Chamber at the time. 



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'^•«rt5«s»i«5"«»!'fetii:^ 



CHAPTER III 



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ROYAL CHARTER FOR THE CHAMBER 

VICISSITUDES OF THE SEAL AND OF GOVERNOR COLDEN'S 



PORTRAIT 



I 770-1 774 



On February 15, 1770, a petition was approved by the 
Chamber requesting the Lieutenant-Governor of the colony 
to grant a charter incorporating the society. When this was 
presented to Governor Colden he expressed his willingness to 
grant the request by saying: "I think it a good institution, 
and will always be glad to promote the Commercial Interests 
of this City, and shall deem it a peculiar happiness that a 
society so beneficial to the General good of the Province is 
incorporated during my administration." 

The royal charter was granted under date of March 13, 1770. 
On March 24 an address approved by the Chamber and 
signed by Mr. Cruger, as President, was read to Governor 
Colden, thanking him for the grant, and declaring: "We beg 
leave to assure your Honour that our utmost Ambition is to 
approve ourselves useful members of the Community, sub- 
missive to the Laws, zealous for the Support of Government, 
and our happy Constitution, and firmly attached to our most 
Gracious Sovereign; and that we will exert ourselves on all 
occasions to promote the General Interest of the Colony, and 
the Commerce of this City in particular; that the UtiUty of 
the Institution and the Wisdom of its Founder may be equally 
applauded by the latest Posterity." 

The charter, which is published in full in the Appendix, 
embodied the articles previously adopted by the Chamber 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



13 



and contained in addition the right to acquire real estate to 
the value of three thousand pounds sterling, to have a com- 
mon seal, and to erect out of their funds such building as the 
members might think necessary for the use of the society. 
The original charter was a document about three feet in width, 
with the massive wax seal of the crown, six inches in diameter, 
attached to it. It disappeared many years ago. At the out- 
break of the Revolution it was apparently in the possession of 
William Walton, President of the Chamber in 1775, who seems 
to have stored it in his residence known as tie "Walton 
House" in Pearl Street, on what was later Franklin Square, 
which was regarded as the finest dwelling of its time. It 
stood on the south side of the street, was three stories high, 
built of Holland brick and brown stone, with a frontage of 
fifty-four feet, and with gardens in the rear extending down to 
the river. It is said to have had a "superb staircase, with ma- 
hogany handrails and banisters, by age dark as ebony, which 
would not disgrace a nobleman's palace," and to have been a 
"noble specimen of English architecture a century ago, with 
fluted colimins, surmounted with armorial bearings, richly 
carved and ornamented, upholding its broad portico, and the 
heads of lions, cut from freestone, looking down between the 
windows upon the passers." 

Mr. Walton, it is recorded, "was very hospitable and gave, 
as he could well afford, the most sumptuous entertainments 
of any person in those plain, but bounteous days. His table 
was spread with the choicest viands, and a forest of decanters, 
sparkling with the most delicious wines. The sideboard 
groaned with the weight of massive silver." Truly a wonder- 
ful picture of the simple life led by our forefathers ! 

At the outbreak of the Revolution, Mr. Walton, who had 
joined in the opposition to the Stamp Act and other efforts 
of the British Parliament to tax the colonies, found himself 
unable to break with his loyalist associations and remained 
faithful to the British cause during the war, serving in the 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



I ■•! 






If 



Chamber of Commerce when it was revived as a loyalist body 
during the British occupation of the city. 

His son, Jacob Walton, who was a rear-admiral in the 
British navy, returned to the United States in 1822, to take 
possession of his father's property, including the Walton 
House, then far gone in decay through neglect. In the attic 
of the mansion, among a vast accumulation of objects of all 
sorts, he found a mahogany box in which, encased in tin, was 
discovered the original charter of the Chamber of Commerce. 
It was transferred in 1827 to the rooms of the Chamber in 
the Merchants' Exchange, where it is supposed to have been 
destroyed when the building was burned in 1835, as no trace 
has been found of it since. 

The original seal of the Chamber, after many vicissitudes, 
is still in possession of the Chamber. It was made in Lon- 
don, in 1772, and was brought to this coimtry by Captain 
Winn, conmiander of a trading-vessel. In the minutes 
of the Chamber for May 5, 1772, appears the following: 
"Proposed that seven Guineas be paid to Capt. Isaac L. 
Winn in addition to the ten Guineas akeady paid Mr. Bache, 
late treasurer, for a seal of this Corporation." 

The seal bears the date of the royal charter of the Chamber, 
1770, is of solid silver, about three inches in diameter, and 
about one inch in thickness. It bears the motto "iV(?» Nobis 
Nati Solum^^ ("Not bom for ourselves alone ")• It disappeared 
during the Revolution and was recovered by marvellous chance 
a few years later. A gentleman, so modest that he declined 
to give his name to a grateful posterity, was looking over 
the collection* of a curiosity-shop in London when he came 
across it and at once sent it to the Chamber. Another " find," 
scarcely less marvellous, was made by Prosper W. Wetmore, 
Secretary of the Chamber in 1843, ^^^ discovered the only 
two volumes of the early records of the Chamber that are in 
existence in a lumber-box in a store in Front Street. Without 
these volumes a history of the Chamber could never have 




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GREAT SEAL OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 1770. 

Reproduced from an impression of the original SeaL 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 15 

been written. They constitute a complete account of the 
proceedings of the society from its foundation in 1768 till 
its reorganization under State Charter in 1784. 

In April, 1771, about a year after the grant of the royal 
charter, it was proposed that as the "Lieut. Governor was 
very kind in favoring this Corporation with a Charter and as 
there is now a good Limner in town, that Mr. President be 
desired to request the favour of Mr. Colden to sit for his 
Picture to be put in the Chamber as a Memorial of their 
Gratitude." This was unanimously adopted. It is recorded 
in the minutes of October 6, 1772, that the "President ex- 
hibited Mr. Pratt's account amounting to 37 pounds for tak- 
ing Governor Colden's portrait in full length to be placed in 
the Chamber." At the next meeting the bill was ordered to 
be paid and a committee was appointed to "agree for a 
Frame." The frame was purchased and the portrait was 
hung in the room of the Chamber in the Royal Exchange 
till the beginning of the Revolution in 1 775. The room in the 
Exchange was not occupied by the Chamber during the 
Revolution, and in that period the portrait seems to have 
passed into the hands of Colden's family, for there is an entry 
on the minutes of the Chamber in February, 1791, saying that 
a picture of Cadwallader Colden, in good condition, was in 
the possession of persons who were willing to restore it to the 
Chamber. At the request of the Chamber it was returned 
by the son of Governor Colden and was hung on the wall of 
the room occupied by the Chamber at that time in the Mer- 
chants' Coffee House, which stood on the southeast comer of 
Wall and Water Streets, which was then the water-front. 
When the place of meeting was changed to the Tontine Build- 
ing in 1793 the portrait was removed to that place. In 1827, 
when the Chamber found quarters in the Merchants' Ex- 
change, the picture was repaired and its frame regilded and it 
was hung with a portrait of Hamilton by Trumbull in the 
entrance-hall on the lower floor of the building. Both these 



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i6 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

portraits were rescued from the fire of 1835, and, covered 
with canvas, were stored m a garret in Wall Street. They 
were foxind there in 1843 by Mr. Wetmore, Secretary of the 
Chamber, somewhat damaged by mildew and dust. They 
were completely restored and are among the choicest of the 
treasures which the Chamber has on exhibition in its per- 
manent home. 



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CHAPTER IV 
EARLY STAND FOR HONEST MONEY 

STEPS IN ITS INTEREST AND IN THAT OF PURE FOOD AND 

BUSINESS INTEGRITY 

I 768-1 774 

From the very beginning of its existence the Chamber 
manifested that keen and sensitive devotion to the highest 
welfare of the community which has been its distinguishing 
characteristic throughout its career. By their first acts as a 
body the members showed that in forming their organization 
the impelling motive had been a conviction that they had a 
pubUc duty to perform. At the moment, the city as weU as 
the country was suffering from the evils of a depreciated 
paper currency. Each colony had a brand of its own, with a 
value of its own, and the result was confusion and discredit 
everywhere in the channels of trade. At its second meeting 
the Chamber took up this question in a proposal that at some 
future meeting it should declare whether the society should 
"discourage the paper currency of Pennsylvania from pass- 
ing in this colony" and whether the paper currency of Jersey 
should be received at a valuation above that given to it by 
the Jersey treasury. This proved to be a very troublesome 
question, so far as Jersey currency was concerned. The Penn- 
sylvania part of it was disposed of easily, for the financial 
position of that colony at the time was better than that of 
New York, and its trade was in a more flourishing condition. 
By a great majority the Chamber voted at its eighth meeting 
in October, 1768, that hereafter "Pennsylvania money be 
received by any member that inclines to take it at 6^ per 
cent advance." 

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i8 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

The problem of New Jersey currency was a far more diffi- 
cult one because of a practice which had grown up of re- 
ceiving it at a higher valuation than the State's own treasury 
placed upon it. After four years of debate and repeated post- 
ponement, a resolution was passed in March, 1772, that 
on and after the 3d of September following, Jersey money 
should be received or paid by members of the Chamber only 
at the valuation fixed by the State's treasury. The imme- 
diate result was the resignation of eighteen members who 
declared that they could not conform to the regulation with- 
out injury to their business. Many other members absented 
themselves from the meetings of the Chamber for the same 

reason. 

In January, 1 774, the action was rescinded. Every member 
was declared to be at liberty to receive and pay Jersey money 
as formerly current, and the members who had resigned were 
invited to offer themselves as candidates for re-election under 
the annual ballot restrictions. In extending the invitation 
the Chamber stood firmly by the principle of its original action 
by declaring that the members who persisted in receiving 
Jersey currency above its State value were by so doing "de- 
preciating our own currency," which, of course, was the fact. 
Thus early the Chamber took its position in favor of a sound 
money system, though it failed to stand by its guns when the 

first real test arose. 

Another matter which was taken in hand at the second 
meeting was carried to a more complete success. This in- 
volved the principle of fair dealing in trade, a fundamental 
principle which the Chamber had been founded to maintain. 
The staple product and chief export article of the colony was 
wheat, surprising as that may seem at the present day. 
There were many and serious complaints about its quality 
and price. A proposal was made that the Chamber consider 
whether the price of flour and bread casks could not be re- 
duced, and at the next meeting it was voted unanimously 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



19 



that after a fixed date no member should pay more than a 
certain price. It was also decreed that steps should be taken 
to detect fraudulent practices in the construction of casks 
and to have the flour inspected and weighed. The members 
were instructed to do all in their power in these proceedings 
for the detection of fraud and to bring offenders to justice. 

A combination was formed by the bolters, millers, bakers, 
and sellers of flour to oppose the Chamber's action and main- 
tain existing prices. This was met at once by the Chamber 
in sending an agent to Philadelphia with authority to pur- 
chase from fifteen hundred to two thousand barrels of flour 
at the lowest price obtainable, have them shipped to New 
York, members of the Chamber to be supplied first and the 
remainder to be disposed of on account of the Chamber. 
The flour was purchased and shipped, but before its arrival 
representatives of the combination surrendered uncondition- 
ally. The following note in the record of the Chamber's 
meeting of November 14, 1768, quamtly tells the story of 
the victory: 

Several of the sellers of Flour, Bakers, and Boulters attended the 
meeting, upon notice given them that the Chamber was ready to 
hear anything that could be said in support of their late demand of 
raising the price of flour and bread cask from 25s. 6d. to 28s., 
which they demanded lately on account of flour being rather scarce. 
But their allegations did not amount to sufficient proof for the 
Chamber to alter their resolution; and both parties debating 
thereon, they, the Flour sellers. Bakers, and Boidters, acquiesced 
with charging in the future no more than 25s. 6d. per ton, craving, 
at the same time, that the Chamber would take into their considera- 
tion at their next meeting the difficulty they have to make their 
principals give into the measures adopted by the Chamber. 

Having thus secured supervision of the flour business, the 
Chamber proceeded to impose strict regulation upon it and to 
take measures for improving the quality of the flour. It 
referred the question of a more rigid system of inspection to a 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



committee which made a formal report in which it said that 
an improved inspection system of flour imported from the 
colony was necessary "so as if possible to retrieve its general 
disrepute in aU parts of the world." The committee recom- 
mended a smgle inspector, giving in support of the proposal 
this interesting narrative of the eager rivahy in rascality 
which had grown up imder the old system: 

Whereas, on the footing the law now stands, of admitting several 
Inspectors of equal authority, each endeavors to establish a reputa- 
tion with the Flour Sellers and Factors, and to secure a preference 
of their busmess; not by vieing with each other who shall inspect 
best, but who shall suffer the worst Flour to pass inspection; and 
there have been instances where one Inspector has condemned, 
and for that reason not been allowed to proceed any further, when 
another has given the sanction of his brand to all the remaining 
parcel of the same sort of Flour. 

The committee recommended also that the single inspector 
should not only "advert to the flour being of a proper fineness, 
but carefully to examine (either by mixing up a little of the 
Flour into a cake and baking it, or by some other effectual ex- 
periment) whether it has not been injured by being ground too 
close, or in some other way, so as to prevent its riseing and 
making light white bread; and that he ought not to brand it 
for exportation if deficient in any of these respects." 

After providing for better inspection the Chamber took 
steps to improve the quality of the flour by advocating the 
importation of "French Burrstones" for the better grinding 
of the wheat, the reputation for superior quality which the 
Philadelphia flour enjoyed being attributable to the use of 
those stones, for the "wheat from the North River is much 
better than any which comes to Philadelphia." 

These and other steps taken at that early day for the es- 
tablishment of the principle of fair dealing in trade, for the 
encouragement of commerce, and for the best welfare of the 
people of the city, are merely examples of its general conduct. 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



21 



It took steps to fix a standard ton for all other articles of ex- 
port, as well as flour, to afl^ a stable value to coins in circula- 
tion, to regulate procedure as to bills of exchange, and to 
establish rates of commission in business transactions. 



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CHAPTER V 
THE GOOD OF THEm COUNTRY" 



STANDARD RATES FOR COINS — PRIZES FOR FISH CATCHES 

1770-1774 

In one of the early dcKverances of the Chamber, the con- 
trolling purpose of its members during the entire colonial 
period was stated with strict accuracy as follows: "Cheer- 
fully to embrace the means which shall appear to them most 
likely to promote the great object of their steady pursuit, 
^The Good of Their Country.^'* They neither wavered nor 
paused in pursuit of this purpose. The records of the Cham- 
ber are crowded with acts for such regulation of trade and 
commerce as would put it on a basis of honorable dealing and 
enhance the reputation of the colony in the eyes of the world, 
thereby contributing most effectively to the welfare and prog- 
ress of the city. Every act of this kind was advertised in the 
newspapers in order that the people might be made acquainted 
with what was being done in their behalf. As the city was 
primarily a commercial commimity, commercial leadership 
was what it most needed, and this the Chamber supplied. 
The lack of such leadership in the past had so hindered the 
city's development that the volume of its trade was less than 
that of Boston or Philadelphia. The founders of the Cham- 
ber, realizing the superior advantages of position which the 
city possessed, and, perhaps, foreseeing dimly its future 
greatness in the commercial world, took upon themselves the 
task of winning for the city the rank to which it was entitled. 
Perceiving that the development of its trade was hindered by 
various shackles which ignorance and cupidity had placed 
upon it, the Chamber devoted itself with great energy, firm- 
ness, and patience to the removal of these. 

22 



r 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



23 



Next to a depreciated paper currency, the greatest annoy- 
ance in commercial dealings was caused by the circulation in 
large quantities of foreign coins at var)dng values. There 
were more than a dozen varieties of these, English, French, 
Dutch, Portuguese, German, Spanish, and other nationalities. 
Their intrinsic value was diminished by clipping, "plugging,'' 
and "sweating," and the consequence was that they passed 
at low rates. The Chamber took up the question of a fixed 
rate for them in its second year and adopted a schedule which 
was advertised in the newspapers with the annoimcement that 
its members would pay and receive all gold and silver coins 
at those rates only. The immediate result seems to have been 
an increase in plugging, etc., for at a subsequent meeting the 
following was adopted: "Finding the scandalous practice of 
filing and diminishing foreign Gold coin too much counte- 
nanced, to encourage which was by no means the intention of 
this Chamber, in order to prevent such base practices here, 
we declare that we will discourage it by all means in our 
power, and hold any person guilty of it in contempt, and not 
proper to be a member of this Chamber." 

Wliile the efforts of the Chamber to improve the char- 
acter of the currency and maintain a stable value for it were 
not inmiediately successful, and at times operated in a man- 
ner contrary to the intentions of their authors, the ultimate 
results were beneficial and the Chamber's advocacy of them 
placed it firmly on the side of sound financial methods, a 
position from which it has never varied. 

In addition to endeavoring to increase the trade and 
commerce of the city through the adoption of better and 
sounder business methods, the Chamber exerted itself to bene- 
fit the people of the city by securing for them lower prices and 
better quality in the necessities of life. At the request of the 
Chamber the Assembly of New York appropriated the sum of 
two hundred dollars a year for five years, to be paid to the 
Treasurer of the Chamber, "for the encouragement of fishery 






- ii 



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I 



■I', 



24 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



on this coast and the better supplying the Markets of the city 
with Fish." The Chamber accepted the trust and advertised 
eight prizes for the owners and crews of fishing- vessels who sup- 
plied the market with the largest quantities of specified varie- 
ties of fish, the highest prize being forty pounds and the lowest 
^ve pounds. A committee was appointed to adjudge the 
prizes and they were duly awarded and the names of the 
winners were recorded in the minutes. The effect upon the 
fish-supply appears to have been encouraging, but there is 
no mention of its effect upon prices. 

It is interesting to note that what is thought to have been 
the first suggestion of fire insurance in New York was made 
in the following motion in the Chamber on April 3, 1770: 
"Mr. Thurman moves that, as it is the desire of a number of 
the Inhabitants of this City to have their Estates Insured 
from Loss by Fire, and that Losses of this sort may not fall 
upon Individuals, Proposed that the Chamber take into con- 
sideration some plan that may serve so good a purpose under 
the direction of this Corporation." 

The motion was brought up for consideration twice sub- 
sequently, but no action was taken upon it. Seventeen years 
later, in July, 1787, the first fire-insurance company in New 
York was organized by John Pintard, but he was not at that 
time a member of the Chamber. He became a member a year 
later, and was its Secretary from 1817 to 1827. There is 
no evidence that the Chamber had anything to do with the 
project. 

The examples, given in preceding pages, of the Chamber's 
activities during its colonial period are merely a few of the 
more notable instances of its public service. To give all in 
detail would be to enlarge imduly the dimensions of the 
present volmne. A sufficient number has been mentioned 
to demonstrate beyond dispute the intelligent and tireless 
devotion of the founders to the fundamental article of their 
profession of faith: "The Good of Their Country." 



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1^1 



CHAPTER VI 
APPROACH OF THE REVOLUTION 

JOHN ADAMSES VIEWS OF NEW YORK IN 1 774 — ^HIS ESTIMATES 

OF MEMBERS OF THE CHAMBER 

1774 

The approach of the Revolution, with its disturbing effect 
upon trade and commerce, and the division of the population 
into patriots and loyalists which it caused, paralyzed the 
Chamber for several years. A graphic, though not especially 
friendly, picture of New York at this time, comes down to 
us in the Diary of John Adams, together with pen-portraits 
of several prominent members of the Chamber with whom he 
came in contact. He was passing through New York in 
August, 1774, on his way to Philadelphia as one of the Massa- 
chusetts delegates to the Continental Congress. Describing 
his arrival, with characteristic Adams acidity, he wrote: 
"About eleven o'clock, four of the delegates for the city and 
coimty of New York came to make their compliments to us; 
Mr. Duane, Mr. Livingston, Mr. Low and Mr. Alsop. Mr. 
Livingston is a downright, straightforward man. Mr. Alsop 
is a soft, sweet man. Mr. Duane has a sly, surveying eye, a 
little squint-eyed; between forty and forty-five. I should 
guess; very sensible, I think, and very artful." 

Of the four gentlemen mentioned, three, Philip Livingston, 
Isaac Low, and John Alsop were founders of the Chamber of 
Commerce. James Duane was never a member. Later, Mr. 
Adams changed his estimate of Livingston, for this subsequent 
entry appears in the Diary: "Phil. Livingston is a great, 
rough, rapid mortal. There is no holding conversation with 
him." A few days after the first entry appears this estimate 

25 



26 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



i 



of Isaac Low: "Mr. Low, the chairman of the Committee of 
Fifty-one, they say, will profess attachment to the cause of 
liberty, but his sincerity is doubted." Subsequent events 
proved the accuracy of this prediction, as will appear later in 
this narrative. 

Mr. Adams was much impressed with the elegance of the hos- 
pitality of the period, as it was displayed to him. Of a break- 
fast given to him at a home he wrote: "A more elegant break- 
fast I never saw — rich plate, a very large silver coffee-pot, a 
very large silver tea-pot, napkins of the very finest material, 
toast, and bread and butter, in great perfection. After 
breakfast a plate of beautiful peaches, another of pears, and 
another of plums, and a muskmelon, were placed on the 
table." 

A banquet seems to have been given to him in the room of 
the Chamber of Commerce, for he records: "We afterwards 
dined in the Exchange Chamber, at the invitation of the 
Committee of Correspondence, with more than fifty gentle- 
men, at the most splendid dinner I ever saw; a profusion of 
rich dishes, &c., &c." 

The city itself came in for a word of praise. "The streets 
of this town are vastly more regular and elegant than those 
of Boston, and the houses are more grand, as well as neat. 
They are almost all painted, brick buildings and all." 

But, as a whole, Mr. Adams does not seem to have had a 
pleasant visit, for on leaving he made this entry: "With all 
the opulence and splendor of this city there is very little good 
breeding to be found. We have been treated with an assidu- 
ous respect; but I have not seen one real gentleman, one well- 
bred man, since I came to town. At their entertainments 
there is no conversation that is agreeable; there is no modesty, 
no attention to one another. They talk very loud, very fast, 
and altogether. If they ask you a question, before you can 
utter three words of your answer, they will break out upon you 
again and talk away." 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



27 



Concerning the style of living in New York at this period 
it may not be inappropriate to quote this observation by a 
late historian: "The chief business of the good citizens of 
New York was eating and drinking. This, and their hospi- 
tality they derived, the one from their English, and the other 
from their Dutch, progenitors and predecessors." 

Commenting upon the remarks of Mr. Adams, the same his- 
torian, John Austin Stevens, Jr., says: "Adams probably 
knew very little about good dinners, which, on account of 
the meagre supply of the Boston market until quite recently, 
could with difficulty be served at any cost; but then a word 
of praise from him was quite as rare as a good New England 
dinner." 



r] 



if 



CHAPTER VII 
ADVENT OF THE REVOLUTION 

THE CHAMBER SPLIT IN TWAIN — ITS PROCEEDINGS AS A 

LOYALIST BODY 

1775-1783 

When the break with England came, in the spring of 1775, 
the Chamber, like the city itself, was divided into nearly 
equal parts, one siding with the mother country, and the 
other with the Revolution. The wealthy class, aristocratic in 
sentiment and bound by family ties and long and intimate 
social intercourse with the British authorities in the country, 
were imable to break away when the final test came. When 
the British took possession of the city, these remained and 
continued to give loyal support to the authorities during the 
entire period of occupation. Among them was Isaac Low. 
Notable in the great throng of patriots who left the city when 
the British entered it were John Cruger, first President of the 
Chamber, and Isaac Roosevelt, one of its founders. They 
remained out of the city during the seven years of British 
occupancy. Isaac Low had been a delegate from New York 
to the Continental Congress. He had valiantly opposed the 
Stamp Act and other British taxation measures, but he had 
never been in favor of a separation from England, exerting 
himself till the last in favor of a compromise peace at any 
price. He justified the estimate of him quoted from John 
Adams's Diary in the foregoing chapter. 

The meetings of the Chamber had been poorly attended for 
a year before the Revolution began, and the last session was 
held on May 2, 1775, thirteen days after the battle of Lexing- 
ton. No effort was made to call another meeting till 1 7 79. In 

38 



f 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



29 



May of that year, Isaac Low, who had been elected President 
at the last meeting in May, 1775, and who was now a zealous 
loyalist, "at the request of many members " issued a call 
for a meeting. The response showed that the war had di- 
vided the membership quite evenly, for fully half of the 
former members failed to appear, having departed from the 
dty. 

The place of meeting was not in the room over the Royal 
Exchange, but in the "Upper long room of the Coffy House,'* 
in which its sessions were held till 1804. The minutes of 
the Chamber show that at first a rent of fifty poimds per 
annum was paid for use of the Long Room, and later eighty 
pounds with a room for committees added, and firewood 
and candles furnished. An account of the Merchants' 
Coffee House, one of the most famous of the historic 
buildings of the city, will be given in later pages of this 
Chronicle. 

The very first action of the body revealed its intense loyalist 
character. A letter addressed to the British Commandant, 
Major-General Daniel Jones, and signed by Isaac Low as 
President, and twenty-two others present, opened with a 
passage in which the Revolution was spoken of as the "present 
imnatural rebellion," and closed with the following declara- 
tion: "As Commandant of the City, we esteemed it our duty 
to lay before you the intent of our proposed meetings and at 
the same time we beg leave to assure you that our assistance, 
when called upon, will at all times be ready to facilitate the 
public good." 

To this address General Jones made a gracious response, 
saying he was happy to hear of the Institution and only re- 
gretted that he had not had the benefit of its assistance sooner 
to procure to New York every advantage the situation would 
admit of which he always had much at heart. 

The Chamber, thus reconvened, devoted its energies in be- 
half of the public welfare with the same zeal that it had man- 






) 



**»•'-■<♦ 11 



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ill 



. » 



I 



30 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

ifested in the earKer days of its career. A committee was 
appointed to consider means for the better cleaning of the city, 
and reported that that reform could be accomplished if the 
existing city ordinances would be enforced as thoroughly as 
they had been before British occupation. The committee 
advocated the employment of scavengers to remove dirt and 
rubbish from the streets and said this had been objected to 
by a "Person in Power" on the ground that "it would inter- 
fere with the common right of Mankind, because every Per- 
son who pleased had a right to take dirt out of the streets." 
As everybody in the city at the time was exercising the right 
to throw dirt into the streets, the committee felt moved to 
say of the objection of the mysterious "Person in Power" 
that it was "An Hypothesis in our Idea founded neither in 
Reason or Fact." What the ultimate result was does not 
appear from the records, but the reasoning of the committee 
was indisputably sound. 

The same committee, having been requested to consider 
the question of regulating the price of butchers' meat, reported 
that "Experience justifies our apprehensions that the remedy 
may prove worse than the Disease"; but they recommended 
(a century or more before the invention of cold storage) that 
"no fresh Provisions (Fish excepted) Vegetables or Poultry, 
should be suffered to be put into Stores or Cellars, on Penalty 
of being forfeited for use of the Ahns House." 

The Chamber resumed the practice of having a committee 
to settle disputes and continued the former system of fines 
for dUatory and absent members. Later a new variety of 
fine was devised, apparently because of a tendency to shirk 
on the part of the members appointed on the committee to set- 
tle disputes, for it was ordered that each member failing to 
attend the sessions of the Monthly Committee each night that 
there was business should pay a fine of five shillings, but no 
member should pay more than eight dollars of such fines in one 
month. The members present should be judges of the ex- 



'I 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



31 



cuse offered for absence and the fines should be used to defray 
the expenses of the committee. 

A special meeting was held to consider the injuries of Mr. 
William Tongue, who had been deprived of his license as an 
auctioneer — not for inability to talk but for failure of duty 
in other directions. It being reported that he had complied 
with what was required of him, his license was restored. 
Declaring that the various artifices practised by bakers to 
take undue advantage of the community were "notorious 
and palpable," the Chamber adopted and sent to the Police 
regulations that: 

Bread of the finest and best flour should be baked into long 
loaves of two Pounds weight, for Fourteen Coppers. 

All other Flour of inferior quality or that is in the least degree 
Musty or Sour should (by way of distinction) be baked up into 
round loaves of two and a half pounds weight, and sold at the same 
price of the Long Loaves. 

Any Baker presuming to bake other than the best Flour into 
Long instead of Round Loaves, or of less weight than is men- 
tioned, should forfeit all the Bread so manufactured for the use 
of the Alms House. 

All bakers were to be watched and kept to their duty imder 
penalty of fine. And this was more than a century and a 
quarter before the advent of Mr. Hoover and the efforts made 
by the government to regulate the price and quality of bread 
during the European War ! Regulations were adopted for the 
sale of butter, tallow, soap, candles, beef, pork, and other 
conunodities. 

Both the patriots and the loyalists engaged extensively in 
privateering during the period of British occupation, and as 
the American privateers were far more active and successful 
than their opponents, the city was often reduced to much 
distress for lack of the necessities of life. The Chamber as a 
devoted loyalist body was bitterly opposed to the American 
privateers. It spoke of them as "Rebel Privateers," and when 



/ 



l[ 



32 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

the captain of a British packet-ship pursued by them ran his 
ship aground on Sandy Hook and brought the mails he had 
on board to the city in a rowboat, the Chamber gave him a 
formal vote of thanks and presented him with a piece of plate, 
"value about 20 Guineas," with the seal of the corporation 
and this inscription engraved upon it: "Presented by the Cor- 
poration of the Chamber of Commerce of New York, to Charles 
Newmau, Commander of His Majesty's late Packet the Car- 
taret, for his great attention and Prudence, in saving and bring- 
ing, at all hazards, his Mail to New York." It is worthy of 
note that the presentation was made on July 4, 1780. 

The Chamber repeatedly urged the British authorities to 
take strong measures to restrict the operations of the American 
privateers, including the stationing of two fast sailing frigates 
off Sandy Hook. The admiral of the British naval forces 
repUed that he had no frigates for the purpose. A few 
months later, when the admiral of the British naval forces, 
replying to the Chamber's request for a larger number of 
British privateers, said that there were already one thousand 
men in that service and that no more could be spared because 
there were two war-frigates in port which could not put to 
sea for lack of men, the Chamber made a formal protest, 
through its President, Isaac Low, which deserves to rank as 
the most remarkable of the series issued by the Chamber 
during its career as a loyaHst body. The document is too 
long to quote in full, but a few of its more striking passages 
may be reproduced as evidence of the change in sentiment 
toward the British authorities which had developed among 
the members: 

The Chamber of Commerce are exceeding sorry to find His 
Excellency and Admiral intimates that encouraging privateers is 
incompatible with and prejudicial to the King's Service. 

Past uniform experience abundantly justifies us in observmg 
to Your Excellency that however difficult it may be to carry on 
the King's Service, unless Privateers are kept within bounds, it 



^ 










FRAUNCES'S TAVERN, 1768. 

Erected in 1719 and still standing at Broad and Pearl Streets. The Chamber of Commerce was founded 
in this building in 1 768 in the Long Room, which extends along the second floor on the side of the building. 

Reproduced by courtesy of Sons of the Revolution. 



I 



INTENTIONAL SECOND EXPOSURE 



32 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

the captain of a British packet-ship pursued by them ran his 
ship aground on Sandy Hook and brought the mails he had 
on board to the city in a rowboat, the Chamber gave him a 
formal vote of thanks and presented him with a piece of plate, 
"value about 20 Guineas," with the seal of the corporation 
and this inscription engraved upon it: "Presented by the Cor- 
poration of the Chamber of Commerce of New York, to Charles 
Newman, Commander of His ]\Iajesty's late Packet the Car- 
taret, for his great attention and Prudence, in saving and bring- 
ing, at all hazards, his Mail to New York." It is worthy of 
note that the presentation was made on July 4, 1780. 

The Chamber repeatedly urged the British authorities to 
take strong measures to restrict the operations of the American 
privateers, including the stationing of two fast sailing frigates 
off Sandy Hook. The admiral of the British naval forces 
replied that he had no frigates for the purpose. A few 
months later, when the admiral of the British naval forces, 
replying to the Chamber's request for a larger number of 
British privateers, said that there were already one thousand 
men in that service and that no more could be spared because 
there were two war-frigates in port which could not put to 
sea for lack of men, the Chamber made a formal protest, 
through its President, Isaac Low, which deserves to rank as 
the most remarkable of the series issued by the Chamber 
during its career as a loyalist body. The document is too 
long to quote in full, but a few of its more striking passages 
may be reproduced as evidence of the change in sentiment 
toward the British authorities which had developed among 
the members: 

The Chamber of Commerce are exceeding sorry to fmd His 
Excellency and Admiral intimates that encouraging privateers is 
incompatible with and prejudicial to the King's Service. 

Past uniform experience abundantly justifies us in observing 
to Your Excellency that however difficult it may be to carry on 
the King's Service, unless Privateers are kept within bounds, it 






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FRAINCF.SS TAVF.RX. ITOS. 

Erected in I-ig and still standine at Br<.)ad and Pearl Streets. The Chamber of Commerce was founded 
in this buildinj.' in 1708 in the Lonp Room, wiiich extends alonp the second floor on the >ideof the building. 

KciTi'iluceil liy c.lur;e^> flSuns of t!ie Kev'lu:i.>ii. 



Ill 






ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 33 

will be found much more so if these bounds be reducfed to too nar- 
row a compass. 

Due encouragement to Privateers is in other words only to 
tempt both Landsmen as well as Seamen by the most powerful 
inducements, that of making it their Interest, to resort from all 
parts of the Continent to this port. Nor has any Maxim obtained 
more universal assent than that all wise Governments should assidu- 
ously consult and attend to the Temper and Genius of the people, 
and it is notorious that the Genius of no people was ever more 
pecuUar or conspicuous than that of the Americans for Privateer- 
ing. If, therefore, that Genius be counteracted it must necessarily 
produce the evils inseparable from such conduct in all other Cases. 

No answer appears to have been received to this protest, 
for a month later it was ordered by the Chamber 

That the President do write to General Robertson, requesting 
to know whether the Letter written to him on the subject of 
Privateering had been laid before the Admiral, and whether any 
or what Answer had been given thereto; and also that he write to 
the Adnural, representing that the Trade and Fishery was unpro- 
tected, and requesting that some means may be pursued so as to 
encourage the Fishermen to take Fish for a supply to this Gar- 
rison, and that its Commerce may not be annoyed by the Privateers 
and Whaleboats that infest even the Narrows. 

This was in June, 1782, and only a few meetings of the 
Chamber were held after that date till its final session in 
May, 1783. The British evacuated the city in November of 
that year. 



I' 



I ? 



I 



R . 



CHAPTER Vm 
BRITISH EVACUATION OF NEW YORK 

RETURN OF WASHINGTON AND PATRIOT EXILES — BANQUET 

CUSTOMS OF THE FATHERS 

1783 

With the triumphant American army, General Washington 
at its head, that took possession of the city on the afternoon 
of November 25, 1783, there came a great throng of patriot 
exiles who had been living in neighboring colonies during the 
British occupation. Among them were a number of men who 
had been members of the Chamber of Commerce during the 
colonial period, including John Alsop, one of the founders, 
and Isaac Roosevelt, one of the founders who was not at the 
first meeting but had given his approval to the project. 
Isaac Low and many of his fellow members who had sup- 
ported the British authorities left the city and country, never 

to return. 

It was a joyous populace which greeted the conquering 
general and his army, but its high spirits do not seem to have 
infected the office of the Independent New York Gazette, 
for in its issue of the Saturday following there appeared this 
terse and passionless record of the events of one of the most 
memorable of days in all history: "Last Tuesday morning 
the American troops marched from Harlem to the Bowery 
Lane. They remained there till about one o'clock when the 
British troops left the posts at the Bowery, and the American 
troops marched in and took possession of the city." 

The Chamber of Commerce was in too chaotic a condition 
to participate as a body in the popular rejoicing which marked 
the great deliverance, but there is abundant evidence that 

34 






^ 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 35 

Isaac Roosevelt and other former members took prominent 
part in the hilarious celebration which began on the 25th 
and continued for several days. Washington was in the city 
till December 4, and during his stay was subjected to an al- 
most unbroken series of banquets from which none of the par- 
ticipants, if we may judge by the itemized bills for the enter- 
tainments which have come down to us, could have emerged 
either hungry or thirsty. The first of the series was given to 
Washington and his officers at Fraunces's Tavern, where 
Washington established his headquarters, by Governor Clin- 
ton on the evening of November 25. There was a large 
attendance at this feast and thirteen formal toasts were 
drunk. That there was no lack of liquor in which to drink 
them is made evident by the bill which Samuel Fraunces pre- 
sented and which the State paid later: 

November 25, 1783. 
His Excellency, Governor Clinton to Saml. Fraunces, Dr. 

To an Entertainment 30/4/0 

To 75 Bottles of Madeira at 8/ 30/ 

To 18 Ditto of Claret at 10/ g/ 

To 16 Ditto of Port at 6/ ,,, 4/16/ 

To 24 Ditto of Porter at 3/ 3/12/ 

To 24 Ditto of Spruce at 1/ j/^/ 

To Lights 60/ Tea and Coffee 64/ 5/4/ 

To Brokeg 2/2/ 

To Punch 10/10/ 

97/12/ 

The above Bill is for an Entertainment of taking possession of the 
City when the British evacuated the Southern District. Rec'd 
the Contents in full 2d Feby. 1784. 

Saml. Fraunces. 

The second banquet was given at Cape's Tavern on Novem- 
ber 28, and that Isaac Roosevelt and his fellow exiles were 
the hosts on this occasion is shown by Washington's itinerary, 



I* ■-.: 



=11 



36 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



in wliich it is recorded that on that date "the citizens who 
have lately returned from exile gave an elegant entertain- 
ment to his Excellency the Governor and the Comicil for 
governing the city; his Excellency General Washington, and 
the officers of the Army; about three hundred gentlemen 
graced the feast." No itemized bill for this entertainment 
has been preserved, as it was not paid by the State, but by 
private individuals. 

Cape's Tavern was a famous hostelry in its day. It stood 
on Broadway, just north of Trinity Church. It had been 
built by Etienne De Lancey as a residence in 1730. In 1754 it 
was converted into a tavern under the name of the Province 
Arms. During the Revolution it was the favorite resort of 
the British army and navy officers. Shortly before evacua- 
tion it passed into the control of a patriotic hotel-keeper 
named John Cape, who removed its old-time royalist sign 
and renamed it after himself. It was the scene of the third 
banquet to Washington, on December 2. This also was given 
by Governor Clinton, at the expense of the State, and was 
also in honor of the French ambassador to the United States, 
the Chevalier de la Luzerne, who had just arrived in the city 
from Philadelphia. It is recorded in the Gazette as "an ele- 
gant entertainment at which were present his Excellency 
General Washington, the principal officers of this state and 
of the army and upwards of an hundred private gentlemen." 
That Isaac Roosevelt was connected with this banquet is 
shown by Cape's bill, of which he was one of the auditors. 
Theodore Roosevelt, who is a descendant of the brother of 
Isaac Roosevelt, reproduces this bill in his "Autobiography," 
saying that it came down to him among other Roosevelt docu- 
ments and that it illustrates the change that has come over 
certain aspects of public life smce the time which pessimists 
term " the earlier and better days of the Republic." The bill 
is reproduced here, with the one on a previous page, both as 
historic documents of large illuminating power: 



f 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



37 



The State of New Yorky to John Cape Dr. 

To a Dinner Given by His Excellency the Governor 

and Council to their Excellencies the Minister of France 
and General Washington & Co. 

1783 
December 

To 120 dinners at 48/ 0/0 

To 135 Bottles Madira 54/ 0/0 

36 ditto Port 10/16/0 

60 ditto English Beer 9/ 0/0 

30 Bouls Punch 9/ 0/0 

8 dinners for Musick 1/12/0 

10 ditto for Sarvts 2/ 0/0 

60 Wine Glasses Broken 4/10/0 

8 Cutt decanters Broken 3/ 0/0 

Coffee for 8 Gentlemen 1/12/0 

Music fees &ca 8/ 0/0 

Fruit & Nuts 5/0/0 



By Cash, 



£156/10/0 
100/16/0 

55/14/0 

We a Committee of Council having examined the above 
account do certify it (amounting to one hundred and 
fifty-six Pounds ten shillings) to be just 
December 17 th 1783. 

Isaac Roosevelt 
Jas. Duane 
Egbt. Benson 
Fred. Jay 



Received the above Contents in full 
New York 17th December 1783 



John Cape 



"Think of the Governor of New York," writes Colonel 
Roosevelt, "now submitting such a bill for such an enter- 
tainment of the French Ambassador and the President of 
the United States! Falstaff's views of the proper propor- 
tion between sack and bread are borne out by the proportion 



\\ 



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I' r 



38 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

between the number of bowls of punch and bottles of port, 
Madeira, and beer consumed, and the ' coffee for eight gentle- 
men'— apparently the only ones who lasted through to that 
stage of the dinner. Especially admirable is the nonchalant 
manner in which, obviously as a result of the drinking of said 
bottles of wine and bowls of punch, it is recorded that eight 
cut-glass decanters and skty wine-glasses were broken." 



CHAPTER IX 
REORGANIZATION OF THE CHAMBER 

CHARTER REVIVED BY THE STATE — ^APPROVAL OF ERIE CANAL — 

MEMORIAL AGAINST FIAT MONEY 

1784-1793 

With the withdrawal of the British and the return of the 
Americans, the Chamber underwent another transformation. 
Most of the members who had conducted it as a RoyaHst 
body left the city with the British army, never to return. 
The members who had absented themselves during the British 
occupation turned their attention almost inunediately to the 
reorganization of the Chamber as a patriotic American body. 
They decided that its character could not be completely 
restored without an official reaffirmation of the charter, and 
they took steps to bring that about. 

Early in the spring of 1784 a petition was sent to the Legis- 
lature of the State of New York, signed by forty merchants, 
asking for a confirmation of the charter for the Chamber on 
the ground that the existing charter "had been forfeited and 
lost by reason of misuse and nonuse." The reasons for this 
action were set forth in the minutes in a statement which, 
both in patriotic and historic interest, is worthy of reproduc- 
tion in full: 

New York, April 20, 1784. 
The Arbitrary and Tyrannical conduct of Great Britain toward 
the late Colonies (now States of America), having been such as to 
Compel the People of these States to Have recourse to Arms for 
the Defence of their Liberty and Property, and the Invasion of 
the State of New York having driven the Inhabitants of the City 
to the cruel Necessity of leaving their Houses and Property and 
to retire into the Country, the Exercise of the Rights and Privileges 
of the Chamber were, in Consequence of the War, suspended from 

39 



), 



I ! 



!l^ 



40 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



the Third of May One thousand Seven hundred and Seventy-five 
to the Sixth of July One thousand Seven hundred and Seventy- 
nine, When a number of the Members Assumed the Exercises of 
the Powers contained in their Charter, under the Patronage of the 
British Commanders — and the Influence of the Chamber having 
been Manifestly directed to Aid the British in Subjugating these 
States — A number of the Members and other Citizens, on their 
return to this City, taking into Consideration the State of the 
Chamber and being advised by Council that the Charter of the 
said Chamber had been forfeited and lost by reason of the Misuser 
and Nonuser of the same. They thought it most advisable to peti- 
tion the Legislature for a Confirmation of the said Charter. 

In response to this petition, the New York Legislature had, 
on April 13, 1784, passed a law entitled "An act to remove 
doubts concerning the Chamber of Commerce and to confirm 
the rights and privileges thereof." The name was changed to 
" Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York," and all 
the powers, rights, privileges, franchises, and immunities 
granted under the royal charter were ratified and confirmed, 
and the new organization was formally continued as the suc- 
cessor of the old. 

The first meeting of the Chamber under the revived charter 
was held on April 20, 1784, at which John Alsop was elected 
President, Isaac Sears, Vice-President, John Broome, Treas- 
urer, and John Blagge, Secretary. 

From this time the Chamber resumed its regular meetings, 
displaying the same spirit of devotion to the public interests 
that had marked its colonial period. At the meeting in May 
the former by-laws were adopted, and a schedule of rates 
fixing the value at which coins in circulation should be received 
and paid out was agreed upon. 

Both the national government and the State of New York 
stood in great need of revenue to meet expenditures, and to 
assist in securing it the New York Legislature passed a law 
taxing importations. The revenue sought by this law was 
materially reduced by smuggling, which reached large pro- 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



41 



portions. The Chamber in October, 1784, gave its cordial 
support to the efforts of the State authorities to prevent this 
by adopting the following resolution: 

Resolved, That the members of this Corporation do solemnly 
engage and promise reciprocally to each other, that they will, 
by every means in their Power, be aiding and assisting to prevent 
the scandalous Practice of Smuggling, and will give information 
of every violation of the Law which may come to their knowledge, 
so that the offender may be pubhcly known and punished; and 
they do most earnestly request and recommend to their fellow 
Citizens that they unite with them in this so necessary and lauda- 
ble Engagement. 

This attitude toward smuggling, taken in the early days of 
the republic, has been maintained without wavering by the 
Chamber to the present day. 

The Revolution had left the colonies struggling with the 
evils of a depreciated currency, and with their commerce 
hampered by restrictions put upon it by Great Britain. 
The Chamber in February, 1785, requested the State govern- 
ment to plead with Congress for the relief of its commerce 
from the "depredations made on the navigation of the United 
States by the Algerines, and the restrictions laid on our 
trade by the British and other nations." In March it ad- 
dressed Congress directly, expressing regret that the "pres- 
ent condition of the city, which through the whole course 
of the late war, has been devoted to the Rage of British 
Power," deprived its citizens of the means of gratifying their 
cordial wishes to make the residence of the members among 
them convenient and agreeable, and declaring their conviction 
that Congress would take measures for the advancement of 
Conmierce "because, imtil our National Flag be rendered 
respectable, and our public credit established, the inhabitants 
of the United States can but partially enjoy the Great Bless- 
ings of Liberty and Peace for which they have so successfully 
Contended." 



II 



1 









42 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



A special meeting of the Chamber was called in May, 1785, 
to consider a circular, signed by John Hancock and other 
merchants of Boston, calling for imited action of the States 
in favor of securing a commercial treaty with Great Britain, 
and vesting in Congress "full power to regulate the internal 
as well as external commerce of all the States." The Cham- 
ber, deeming this subject too large for discussion and action 
by itself alone, resolved to call a public meeting of citizens at 
the City Hall for its consideration. 

The proceedings of the Chamber at its meeting on January 
3, 1786, are notable as containing a record of the first sugges- 
tion of the Erie Canal. A memorial to the Chamber was 
presented asking its aid for a project to open "an intercourse 
with the interior parts of the United States, by an artificial 
inland navigation, along the Mohawk River and Wood Creek 
to the great lakes." The Chamber replied, saying its mem- 
bers entertained the "highest ideas of the Utility of the scheme, 
wishing it may meet with every possible success, but in their 
incorporated capacity, owing to the lowness of their funds, 
'tis out of their power to lend him [the memorialist] any aid." 

At a special meeting, on February 28, 1786, the Chamber 
took again firm stand in favor of sound money, thereby 
affirming emphatically its policy for all time, fixing a stand- 
ard from which its successors have never departed. A bill 
was before the State Legislature providing for issuing paper 
money and making it a legal tender. The Chamber adopted 
a memorial in which it denounced the proposal in terms as 
vigorous as they are financially sound, and circulated it 
throughout the city for signatures, obtaining six hundred. 
Its main points were the following: 

Without attempting a discussion of the subject at large, your 
memorialists respectfully beg leave to submit a few remarks which 
to them appear imanswerable. 

First — if the paper emitted should stand on such a basis as to 
render it in the public estimation equal to gold and silver, the 




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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



43 



intervention of legislative authority to enforce its reception must 
be unnecessary. If it should not stand on such a basis, that 
intervention would be unjust and indefensible on any principle of 
morality or public utility. 

It would be by law to enable the debtor to defraud his creditor. 

It would be by law to give the property of one set of men to 
another. 

It would be by law to involve creditors in ruin, in order to save 
debtors from distress. 

It would be by law to undermine all the principles of private 
credit, private faith, and private honesty. 

If it were to be admitted in its fullest extent that many debtors 
will be ruined, what interest has the state in substituting one set 
of ruined men to another set of ruined men. 

Striking tribute to the force of this memorial was paid in 
the refusal of the Legislature to print it or to permit it to 
remain on its minutes. It was placed on the minutes on the 
day of its reception, but when read as a part of them on the 
day following, it was ordered to be obliterated. 

Former members of the Chamber who had not joined since 
the revived charter were declared to be admitted, on February 
13, 1787, provided they would respectively attend the Cham- 
ber at a stated meeting and signify their consent to become 
members before the first Tuesday in Jime following. This 
act of forgetfulness of past differences afforded evidence that 
the passions aroused by the war were already cooling. 

In a revision of the by-laws adopted in September, 1787, the 
hour of meeting was fixed at 7 p. m. from May to October, 
and 6 p. M. from November to April. At the same time a 
resolution was adopted declaring that members would pay 
and receive gold and silver at the rates established by the 
Bank of New York. Rules for the regulation of quality and 
weight of commodities and commission rates in domestic and 
foreign trade were fixed. 

There was a growing indifference among members at this 
period and a backwardness about paying dues which be- 



/ 



'■ 



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44 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



tokened a steadHy lessening interest in the Chamber and its 
work. In September, 1788, a Kst of unpaid admission fees 
and quarterly dues was submitted which aggregated three 
hundred and thirty dollars. Only a part of this appears to 
have been collected, for in August of the following year, very 
little business having been transacted by the Chamber in the 
interval, the Treasurer was directed to purchase in the name 
and for the use of the corporation one share of bank stock 
"out of the monies now in his possession and as soon as a 
sufficient Sum shall be collected (arising from the fines of 
Quarterages now due to this Chamber) in addition to the 
balances that shall then remain in his hands." 

The share of bank stock mentioned was one in the Bank of 
New York, the first institution of the kind in the city. It 
was organized by Alexander Hamilton, on March 15, 1784, 
with a capital stock of five hundred thousand dollars, divided 
into one thousand shares of five hundred dollars each. It be- 
gan business in June following, in the Walton House. Isaac 
Roosevelt was chosen its President in 1 787. For several years 
the State Legislature refused its application for a charter, but 
granted one in March, 1791. 

It was decided in April, 1793, that all meetings in Novem- 
ber, December, January, and February be held at 6 p. m., 
and in the other months at 7 p. M. At this time all fines for 
non-attendance were abolished. 



11 



CHAPTER X 
THE JAY TREATY 

VALUABLE SUPPORT BY THE CHAMBER—RESULTS EFFECTED 

SESSIONS INTERRUPTED BY YELLOW FEVER — 
INTERREGNUM OF ELEVEN YEARS 

I 794-1806 

During its career of a century and a half the Chamber has 
demonstrated, on every occasion which called for a declaration 
of its principles, that while its members sought at all times to 
secure the blessings of peace, they were immovably opposed 
to peace obtained at the price of honor. One of the most 
notable and public-spirited displays of its attitude on this 
subject ever made by the Chamber occurred in 1794 and 1795. 
The occasion for it was President Washington's act in send- 
ing John Jay, who at the time was Chief Justice of the United 
States, as envoy extraordmary to Great Britain in the spring 
of 1794. Washington's explanation of his action was the 
"serious aspect" of affairs, brought about by the attacks 
made upon neutral trade under the orders in council issued 
by the British Government in the long contest with France 
that had recently begun and that ended twenty-one years 
later in the battle of Waterloo. Washington had imposed 
an embargo and threatened retaliation. He gave as a reason 
for sending Jay his behef that "peace ought to be pursued 
with unremitted zeal before the last resort, which has so often 
been the scourge of nations, is contemplated." There were 
wide differences of opinion about the wisdom of this appoint- 
ment and much severe condemnation of it. The Chamber of 
Commerce did not hesitate a moment about its duty in the 
controversy. On May 9, three days after Jay had been given 

45 



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ill 



li 



46 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



his instructions, it passed resolutions approving the mission 
and saying: "If, nevertheless, this embassy should fail to pre- 
serve to us the blessings of Peace, yet we persuade ourselves 
it cannot fail to convince all nations of our justice and modera- 
tion, to unite our own sentiments and efforts, and render an 
appeal to arms more honorable to us and more formidable to 
our enemies." 

Jay had scarcely sailed on his mission when the British 
governor of Canada, Lord Dorchester, made a speech un- 
friendly in character to the United States, and other develop- 
ments occurred which so intensified the bitterness between the 
two coimtries that Washington said in a message to Congress, 
on May 21, 1794: "This new state of things suggests the pro- 
priety of placing the United States in a posture of effectual 
preparation for an event, which, notwithstanding the en- 
deavors making to avert it, may, by drcmnstances beyond 
our control, be forced upon us." 

Washington had sent Jay to England as a last chance of 
maintaining peace. On arriving. Jay found that Pitt had vol- 
untarily retreated from his position and that new orders had 
been issued exempting from seizure American vessels engaged 
in the direct trade from the United States to the French West 
Indies. This concession was of great value, for the Americans 
quickly proved that they could carry West Indian produce to 
Europe, not only more cheaply than British ships could, but 
almost as quickly and could make double freight by stopping 
at an American port on the return voyage. The concession 
was attributed to fear on the part of Great Britain caused 
by the firm attitude which Washington had taken in his sug- 
gestion to Congress, quoted above, for "effectual prepara- 
tion" in case the controversy should result in war. The 
British concession justified the memorable opinion which he 
had expressed four years earlier, in his address to Congress 
in joint session, on January 8, 1790: "To be prepared for war 
is one of the most effective means of preserving peace. A 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 47 

free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined " 
Jay had the benefit of this partial retreat by the British 
Government in opening his negotiations with Earl Granville 
Vanous projects were considered, and a treaty was signed on 
November 19, 1794. It settled the eastern boundary of 
Mame, secured the surrender of western forts still held by the 
British, and recovered $10,345,000 for iUegal captures by 
British cruisers. "^ 

When Washington received the treaty he deliberated for 
some time as to whether, in view of the excited condition of 
the pubhc mind, to submit it to the Senate for ratification and 
to the House for the legislation necessary to carry out its pro- 
visions. There was a furious outcry against it. HamUton 
at first raised objections to it, and subsequently, when he at- 
tempted to speak in pubhc in its defense, was mobbed 

While public excitement was at its height and the fate of 
the treaty m the Senate and House uncertain, the Chamber of 
Commerce called a special meeting on July 21, 1795, for the 
purpose of considering the subject which "particularly agitates 
the public mind, the Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Naviga- 
tion, between the United States and Great Britain " The 
imnutes for the day have this entry: "This meeting was the 
most respectable ever held in the Chamber of Commerce 
(upwards of seventy members being present). After the 
treaty was read, resolutions approving thereof were adopted 
with only ten dissenting voices." 

This action by the Chamber, at a critical stage of the 
treaty s progress, led to simUar action by other mercantile 
bodies throughout the country and this support had a powerful 
mfluence m securing its ratification by the Senate and the pas- 
sage of the necessary enabhng legislation by the House 

Events were to prove that the Chamber was far-sighted in 
the wisdom of its action. Through the effects of Pitt's con- 
cession and certain provisions of the treaty, there was a sudden 
increase m American shipping of such volume, says Henry 



\ 



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48 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



Adams in his "History of the United States," that "at the 
close of the century the British flag seemed in danger of com- 
plete exclusion from the harbors of the United States." In 
support of this statement Mr. Adams gives the following 
figures: 

In 1790 more than 550 British ships, with a capacity of more 
than 115,000 tons, had entered inward and outward, representing 
about half that number of actual vessels; in 1799 the custom- 
house returns showed not 100 entries, and in 1800 about 140, 
representing a capacity of 40,000 tons. In the three years 1790- 
1792, the returns showed an average of some 280 outward and 
inward entries of American ships with a capacity of 54,000 tons; 
in 1800 the entries were 1,057, with a capacity of 236,000 tons. 
The Americans were not only beginning to engross the direct 
trade between their own ports and Europe, but were also rapidly 
obtaining the indirect carrying-trade between the West Indies and 
the European continent, and even between one European coun- 
try and another. 

Summing up the effects of the Jay treaty, Mr. Adams 
writes: "Chief Justice Jay, in 1794, negotiated a treaty with 
Lord Granville which was in some respects very hard upon 
the United States, but was inestimably valuable to them, be- 
cause it tied Pitt's hands and gave time for the new American 
Constitution to gain strength. Ten years steady progress, 
were well worth any temporary concessions." 

While on his way back from London Jay was elected Gov-; 
emor of New York, and that the Chamber took an active part 
in the celebration which greeted him on his arrival is shown 
by an entry in the minutes of the session of January 2, 1795, 
ordering payment for "gunpowder expended in celebrating 
the election of John Jay as Governor of the State.^ 



» 



It is difficult for the present generation to realize what a 
scourge yellow fever was in American cities during the clos- 
ing years of 1700 and the first quarter of 1800. It appeared 
regularly every year, more often in Southern than in Northern 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 49 

cities, and its advent paralyzed all social and business life 
during its stay. The secret of the transmission of the disease, 
which was also its prevention, was discovered by a board of 
army surgeons in 1900 after the Spanish War. Two members 
of the board— Lazear and Carroll— permitted themselves to 
be bitten by yeUow-fever infected mosquitoes. Both got the 
disease ; CarroU recovered but Lazear died— a martyr to science 
and the human race. Other like tests were made upon volun- 
teers for the purpose, and the result was absolute demonstra- 
tion that the disease was transmitted by the mosquito of a 
pecuUar type and by that mosquito alone. This discovery 
not only banished the pest forever from American cities but 
from the Isthmus of Panama, thus making possible the con- 
struction of the canal. 

The first visit of yellow fever to New York occurred in 1795 
and continued through the months of August, September, 
October, and November, causing the death of about seven 
hundred persons, mostly foreigners. A second visit, equally 
deadly, came in 1798, a third in 1799, and a fourth in 1822. 
In consequence of the general alarm which it caused there was 
an exodus of the population to regions outside the city limits. 
The Chamber of Commerce suspended all meetings during 
the summer whenever it appeared. It is recorded in the min- 
utes of August, 1798, that a "maHgnant yeUow-fever having 
appeared about the 28th of August, and a general dispersion 
of the mhabitants of New York having taken place soon after, 
no meeting was held from that time till December 24." 

But while its activities suffered by these long interruptions, 
the Chamber during 1796, 1797, and 1798 continued to exert 
Its influence steadily on the side of the best interests of the 
trade and commerce of the city, approving a bill before Con- 
gress for the protection of American seamen and sending a 
special representative to Philadelphia to impress upon Con- 
gress, then in session there, the necessity of adequate forti- 
fication of the harbor of New York. 



l-i 



^1 



50 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

That the Chamber of this period was not composed of 
"peace-at-any-price" men was demonstrated anew, on 
April 20, 1798, when the relations between the United States 
and the Republic of France were becoming more strained 
daily. A committee appointed for the purpose made a re- 
port approving the neutral poUcy adopted by President 
Washington at the beginning of hostiUties in Europe, and 
adhered to by his successor, John Adams, for an amicable 
settlement of misunderstandings with France, and concluded 
its report with the foUowing declaration and resolution: 

But estimating our rights as an independent nation far above 
any considerations of inconvenience, which may attend the means 
of maintaining and preserving them, 

Resolved, that we wiU zealously support such measures as the 
wisdom of the Government may dictate, and demonstrate by our 
unanimity, that all efforts to divide us wiU be vam. 

About forty members were present at the meeting when the 
report was made. They voted unanimously to approve it 
and its accompanying declaration and resolution, and to 
forward a copy to President Adams. This was done, and 
under date of April 27, 1798, the President sent a reply in 
which he said the declaration and resolution were "expressive 
of sentiments wortiiy of the American people,'' and added: 
"Your approbation of tiie system of tiie United States, 
and the manner of the Government to pursue and preserve 
it, afford much satisfaction to me in reflecting on what is 
passed and encouragement to perseverance in future." 

But the demoraUzing effect of the long interruptions m 
the sessions of the Chamber because of yellow fever began to 
be apparent after 1798. Very few meetings were held, and 
the attendance at them was too small for the transaction of 
business. It became necessary to caU special meetings when 
action was considered important. One was called on Decem- 
ber 26, 1799, to consider "some appropriate mode of testify- 




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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



51 



ing regret for the irreparable loss sustained by the nation in the 
death of George Washington"; and others to send memorials 
to Congress on the subject of some matters of large interest 
to the welfare of the city. Efforts were made to secure a 
larger attendance, but were without success, and beginning 
with 1806, for a period of eleven years no meetings were held. 
Undoubtedly the commercial depression and internal dis- 
sensions attending the controversy with Great Britain, which 
resulted in the War of 1812, had much to do with this. 



iiMaai«*«Mir^». 



- -* -f- 



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CHAPTER XI 
REVIVAL OF THE CHAMBER 

TREE-TRADE ATTITUDE OF THE MEMBERS — NATIONAL BANK- 
RUPTCY LAW FAVORED — ^REMOVAL TO THE 
MERCHANTS* EXCHANGE 

1817-1827 

On March 4, 1817, Cornelius Ray, who had been President 
of the Chamber when meetings ceased in 1806, summoned its 
members together, saying to those who responded that, "from 
a variety of circumstances the meetings of the Chamber of 
Commerce had been intermitted for a considerable number 
of years; that at the request of several respectable gentle- 
men he had summoned the present meeting for the purpose 
of reviving this once eminent and highly useful institution." 
The names of thirty-six persons for new membership were 

proposed. 

At this meeting the former Treasurer resigned and in turn- 
ing over the affairs of his office to his successor gave this 
inventory of the assets of the Chamber on June i, 1806: 
One share in the United States Bank; i share in the Bank 
of New York; and $188.27 in cash. At the meeting in 
March following, the Treasurer reported the funds of the 
Chamber as follows: One share in Bank of New York; 7 
shares in the Eagle Fire Insurance Co.; $372.67 '^ cash. 
The Treasurer was ordered to invest the moneys in hand in 
shares of the Eagle Fire Insurance Co. 

In April following, the practice of monthly meetings was 
abolished, and bimonthly ones were ordered, those in May, 
July, and September to be held at 12 o'clock noon, and those 
in November, January, and March at 6 p. m. This was the 

52 



' » 



^1 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 53 

only change of importance made in the existing by-laws, ex- 
cept that it was provided that the names of persons having 
disputes before the standing committee on arbitration were 
to be published in the newspapers. The meetings were now 
held in the Long Room of the Tontine Coffee House, the rental 
of which to the Chamber was seventy-five dollars a year. 
The depredated quality of wheat and flour was a constant 
subject of consideration by the Chamber during 1817 and 1818, 
and voluminous memorials to the Legislature were made at 
frequent intervals. In January, 1819, the Chamber sent a 
long memorial to Congress requesting the enactment of a 
national bankruptcy law which ''should put creditors of 
all descriptions upon a footing of equality throughout the 
Union"; in February and other months, other long memorials 
against the repeal of the charter of the Bank of the United 
States; against discriminating duties levied by France on 
staple products of the United States; on defects in the 
methods of collecting revenue; and on various other matters 
connected with trade and commerce. 

In September, 1820, the Chamber sent a delegation to a 
convention of representatives of all commerdal dties which 
was held in Philadelphia of that year to take measures to de- 
feat the tariff biU then before Congress. Resolutions were 
adopted strongly opposing any tariff except for purposes of 
revenue and these, when reported to the Chamber by its re- 
turning delegates, were spread upon the minutes with unani- 
mous approval. 

The project for building a Merchants' Exchange was 
brought before the Chamber at its meeting on July 3, 182 1, 
and a committee was appointed to consider its expediency. 
At the next meeting, September 4, the committee reported 
that they considered the project expedient and had taken it 
upon themselves to petition the Legislature for an act of in- 
corporation with a capital of five hundred thousand dollars, 
and in doing so did not know but that they had exceeded the 



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54 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



power intended to be granted them. The Chamber approved 
their action. The Legislature passed the act, a corporation 
was formed, and the Exchange was erected. A description 
of the building appears in other pages of this volume. 

Among the many memorials sent by the Chamber to the 
President and Congress at this time was one asking for the pro- 
tection of commerce against the "perils that infest the West 
Indies and the Gulf of Mexico"; and another, on January 6, 
1824, with the united approval of the commercial towns and 
cities of the country, asking for a national bankruptcy law. 
A public meeting was called at the Tontine Coffee House to 
support the latter. 

During 1822 and 1823 the Chamber continued to send me- 
morials to Congress in imdiminished volume, the full text of 
which the Secretary was required to spread on the minutes, 
making his office something far removed from a sinecure. In 
February, 1823, the Chamber, having been asked by a group 
of young men who a year or two earlier had united to establish 
a Mercantile Library Association for their own self-improve- 
ment, to come to their assistance, responded with an appro- 
priation of two hundred dollars and the appointment of a 
standing committee, renewed annually, to visit the library 
from time to time and report to the Chamber as to its condi- 
tion. It was estimated at the time that there were about 
four thousand merchants' clerks in the city, of whom only 
two hundred had become interested in the library. The 
Chamber not only encouraged the worthy project with con- 
tributions of money, but by its hearty commendation did much 
to start the association on that long, useful, and honorable 
career which continues to this day. 

The imcompromisingly free-trade attitude of the Cham- 
ber was displayed with great clearness on January 26, 1824, 
when in a series of resolutions it declared that "as (it is) the 
sense of this Chamber that the true and legitimate object of 
taxation is revenue, and that the power to lay and collect 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



55 



taxes and establish imports, which is given to Congress by the 
Constitution of the United States, was not granted with 
the intention, nor will it bear the construction that it may be 
so exercised as to cherish and elevate one class at the expense 
of all the other classes of our citizens, " therefore, the Chamber 
"protests against increased duties as prohibitions and restric- 
tions on trade and will promote exclusive interests at the 
national expense." A memorial embodying these views at 
length was sent to Congress. The memorial was directed 
against the tariff measure of which Henry Clay became the 
chief champion and Daniel Webster the leader of the oppo- 
sition. Clay invented at that time the phrase "American 
system" for the doctrine of protection and made what are 
regarded as the ablest speeches of his career in support of the 
bill, carrying it to success. 

The Merchants' Exchange being ready for occupancy in 
May, 1827, the Chamber held its first meeting there on the 
first day of the month and signified the occasion by an act 
of historical interest. In co-operation with the Philadelphia 
Chamber of Commerce, it adopted a memorial to President 
John Qumcy Adams, in favor of a line of communication be- 
tween the United States and the Pacific Ocean, through the 
Gulf of Mexico, and across the Isthmus of Darien, which at the 
time included what is now the Isthmus of Panama. The 
proposal was for a line of small national vessels to sail from 
Atlantic Coast ports to the mouth of the Chagres River, 
which was then the starting-point for transportation across 
the Isthmus, to the city of Panama on the Pacific side. The 
mouth of the Chagres River is about ten miles west of the 
present city of Colon and the Atlantic entrance to the Panama 
Canal. In 1827 transportation across the Isthmus was by 
small boat, or native dugout canoes, up the Chagres for 
about twenty miles to a village then called Venta Cruz, and 
later Cruces, and thence by mule trail to Panama, a distance 
of about thirty-six miles. 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 






The originators of the project of 1827 never dreamed of a 
United States that should fill the entire continent between the 
Atlantic and the Pacific, traversed by great lines of railway, 
or of a railway across the Isthmus, or of a canal dividing 
it. Their project of a line of vessels to the mouth of the 
Chagres River was put into operation in 1849, ^Jid one year 
later the task of building a railway across the Isthmus was 
begun. 



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CHAPTER Xn 
ACTIVE INTEREST IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS 

CITY, STATE, AND NATIONAL QUESTIONS CONSIDERED— ERIE 

railroad favored — burning of the 
merchants' exchange 

1827-1836 

The modest financial condition of the Chamber at this 
period is disclosed in the bills paid at the time of taking up 
its abode in the Merchants' Exchange. There was a charge 
of thirty dollars for ten meetings, at three dollars each, in the 
Tontine Coffee House: one of one hundred dollars, as salary 
of Secretary, and one of five dollars for advertising. No 
other expenses seem to have been incurred during the year. 
The original charter, in its mahogany box, was duly received 
and placed in the new quarters. 

In September, 1827, and again in April, 1828, the members 
of the bar of the city, recognizing the influence which the 
Chamber exercised upon the public, requested it to express 
its opinion upon measures before the Common Council for 
changes in the judiciary system, and the request was granted. 
In the latter year the Chamber was requested to pass upon 
the names of candidates who were suggested for the newly 
constituted Court of Common Pleas. In response to this 
request the Chamber called a public meeting of merchants 
and traders in its meetmg-room in the Merchants' Exchange 
for the purpose of "recommending to the Governor such per- 
sons as in their opinion are proper individuals for that sta- 
tion." 

A special meeting was called in February, 1828, to consider 
the proper means for testifying respect for the memory of De 

57 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



Witt Clinton, who died on the nth of that month. A series 
of resolutions was adopted, of which the following is especially 
worthy of record: 

His devotion to the cause of science and literature, and to the 
benevolent institutions which distinguish the present day — his 
successful efforts to promote schools among the great body of our 
citizens, whereby nearly half a million of our youth receive the 
benefit of education — his genius in projecting, and his untiring 
zeal and energy in carrying into effect, the great scheme of internal 
navigation, which has already united the Hudson with the in- 
land seas of the north, and will soon lead to a similar union with 
the immense waters of the west, and lay open to the commerce of 
this city fertile countries, whose shores are not inferior in extent 
to the shores of Europe — ^all show the superiority of his mind — 
that it was directed to the most patriotic objects, and that its 
efforts have been crowned with the most splendid success. 

Three-quarters of a century later the successors of the 
members who paid this high and just tribute reiterated it, and 
confirmed it in enduring form by placing upon the front of 
the Chamber^s permanent home a statue in marble of Clin- 
ton, in the fit company of Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. 

In March, 1828, the by-laws were again revised, with slight 
changes, and the hour of meeting was fixed at i p. m. It 
was decided to continue the standing committee on disputes, 
and to enlarge the rules of admission by making eligible for 
membership "any American citizen who regularly transacts 
business in the city of New York whether he be a resident of 
the city or elsewhere." 

Little action of large importance was taken by the Cham- 
ber for a considerable period after 1828. Congress was pe- 
titioned repeatedly by memorial to authorize the building 
of a new custom-house. "Not less than five hundred per- 
sons,'' it was declared in one of these, "daily transact business 
at the Custom House. It is not an infrequent occurrence to 
see from one to two hundred persons at a time in the Room 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



59 



occupied by the Collector's Ofl&ce in an area of little more than 
thirty feet square." It was requested that the new building 
be placed in Wall Street, as the convenient centre of com- 
mercial business, and when a proposal was made to place 
both a custom-house and a post-office building in the City 
Hall Park, vigorous resolutions were adopted and sent to 
Congress protesting against the plan, declaring that to place 
the buildings there would be "to commit a beautiful Public 
Square, which is now set apart for the health and comfort of 
the citizens, to uses for which it was never intended." The 
Custom House building was finally placed in Wall Street, 
where it still stands. It was used as a custom-house till the 
present building, near the Bowling Green, was completed. 
The City Hall Park was invaded in 187 1, when the post-office 
building was erected on its southern end. 

A curious incident is recorded in the minutes of the meet- 
ing on May 6, 1834. A resolution was adopted declaring 
"that as at a late election for members of the Chamber of 
Commerce the privilege of excluding by blackballs under the 
4th article of the bylaws was availed of against a candidate 
for admission, to whose character and qualifications there 
were no just causes of exception," it was, therefore, moved 
that the "4th article be suspended by unanimous consent for 
the purpose of balloting for John P. Stagg." The motion 
prevailed and Mr. Stagg was elected. At the same time vari- 
ous motions were made to amend the 4th article, but all of 
them were tabled. 

In September of the same year — 1834 — strong approval 
was voted of a project for a ship canal aroimd Niagara Falls, 
and a railroad from Lake Erie to the Hudson. The Chamber 
was so favorably impressed by this project that it appointed 
a committee to prepare a pamphlet explaining it and setting 
forth its merits, the same to be used for general distribution 
at a cost not exceeding two hundred dollars to be paid by the 
Chamber. The ultimate outcome of this project was the 



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60 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



building of the Erie railroad, and later, when the work was 
under way the Chamber adopted strong resolutions in favor 
of its completion, urging citizens of all classes to subscribe to 
its stock, and expressing the hope that the Legislature would 
grant all reasonable aid. 

Under date of January 5, 1836, this single entry appears 
upon the minutes of the Chamber: 

There was no meeting of the Chamber of Commerce this day in 
consequence of the total destruction of the Merchants' Exchange 
and the confusion created in all busmess arrangements by the 
dreadful and most disastrous fire on the night of the i6th Decem- 
ber which has laid waste the greater part of the business section of 
the First Ward. The books and pictures belonging to the Cham- 
ber and its Corporate Seal fortunately were saved from the flames. 

The next meeting of the Chamber was held in the Mer- 
chants' Bank, on February 3, 1836, which continued to be its 
home till 1858. At this meeting the Treasurer reported that 
the sixteen shares which the Chamber held in the Eagle Fire 
Insurance Co., "may be considered so much loss owing to the 
late dreadful conflagration by means of which said company 
among others has been rendered insolvent." 

That members of the standing committee on disputes were 
often lax in attendance at its sessions was shown in a report 
which the member who had been acting Secretary since that 
form of committee was created in 1822 made in July, 1836. 
It showed a total of one hundred and forty dollars as the 
amoimt of fines collected during that period. 

Steadily and persistently, during the period between 1820 
and 1840, the Chamber petitioned Congress in a continuous 
stream of memorials to enact legislation for the regulation of 
pilots, for the building of lighthouses in the harbor, and for 
desirable quarantine regulations. 










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CHAPTER Xni 
FRESH LIFE IN THE CHAMBER 

ADDITIONAL MEMBERS ELECTED — GROWTH IN PROTECTION 

SENTIMENT 

1840-1849 

Early in 1840 a systematic effort was made to put new life 
into the Chamber and increase its activities. A special com- 
mittee, which had been appointed to "consider what steps 
should be taken to extend the usefuhiess of this corporation," 
made a report which was regarded as of so much importance 
that a special meeting was called to consider it. The Mayor 
offered the City Hall for the meeting and it was held there, 
after ten days' notice, on March 17. It was agreed unani- 
mously that the following programme should be put into 
effect as soon as possible: 

Elect a large number of new members. 

Procure offices of suitable size and a central position for 
the accommodation of the Library of the Chamber and for 
the daily meeting of such members as may choose to resort 
there, it being recommended that every one appear there 
once a day. 

Appoint a clerk with a moderate salary to give his con- 
stant attendance between 9 a, m. and 9 p. M.; keep a record 
daily of the time of high water, course of the wind, foreign 
arrivals at the port, and such other information as it may seem 
of importance to have; keep files of newspapers from different 
parts of the Union, one at least from each State, with such 
public documents and important laws as may be received; 
the clerk to serve also as librarian or assistant librarian. 

An annual amount, not exceeding ten dollars, be paid to 

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62 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



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the Treasurer by each member, in addition to the initiation 
fee, such payment to entitle the member, besides the use of 
office and Ubrary, to the privilege of submitting cases for 
arbitration to the standing committee free of charge, whidi 
privileges were to cease on failure to pay the award. Privi- 
leges of the office could be extended to persons not members 
under such regulations as the Chamber might from time to 

time direct. 

Amend the by-laws so as to read: "No persons can be ad- 
mitted members of this corporation but merchants, and others 
whose avocations are connected with the trade and commerce 
of the country, who are American citizens or have given notice 
of intention to become so, or continue members if not residents 
in the city of New York or regularly transacting business 

there." 

The effort to enlarge the membership of the Chamber 
seems to have been reasonably successful, but there was little 
apparent increase immediately in the Chamber's activities. 
During the year 1841 very little business of importance was 
transacted. A long memorial was sent to Congress in favor 
of a National Bank, but in general only minor matters were 
considered. A statement of the Chamber's financial con- 
dition, made in August, 1841, showed $1,182.54 in cash; 
I share in the Bank of New York; 10 shares in the Mer- 
chants' Exchange, and 16 shares (old) Eagle Fire Insurance 

Co. 

When the question of imposing discriminating tariffs on 
foreign importations was before Congress in 1842, discussion 
of the subject revealed a distinct growth in protection senti- 
ment in the Chamber. Eighteen years earlier, in January, 
1824, when the tariff bill of which Clay was the champion was 
on its passage through Congress, the Chamber had agreed 
upon a memorial strongly in support of a tariff for revenue 
only and earnestly opposed to any tariff for protection. 
In April, 1842, a memorial was presented to the Chamber in 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 6^ 

which the existence and prosperity of home industry were 
declared to be the fundamental basis of all commerce and 
trade, and the attitude of the Chamber was defined as follows: 

The doctrine of "free trade" meets the entire concurrence of 
this Chamber, and wherever it can be met with, should be en- 
hanced, but if not mutually practised by nations in their inter- 
course with us, is seen to demonstrate the sad consequences which 
seem too self evident to need an illustration. 

It is the opinion of this Chamber, that in no other way, as a pre- 
liminary measure, can this nation be restored to its former high 
stand— the debts of the states liquidated by the prospered condi- 
tion of their citizens to pay the same— and the national honor and 
character sustained— than by a resort to a discriminating tariff 
of duty on foreign imports. 

This memorial was printed and circulated widely, but when 
it came before the Chamber for action, consideration was in- 
definitely postponed by a vote of thirty-six to thirty, showing 
the Chamber to be nearly evenly divided. Various resolu- 
tions, in opposition to the discriminating tariff measure, were 
introduced and all met the same fate. 

At the meeting on February 15, 1843, this minute was re- 
corded: "A reporter being present from one of the public 
newspapers, a motion was made by Mr. Blunt that no person 
be allowed to be present at this meeting except by special per- 
mission of the presiding officer." The motion was carried 
unanimously and the President decided that the reporter 
should withdraw. Six years later, in August, 1849, an applica- 
tion was made on behalf of a reporter of The Journal of Com- 
merce for permission to attend the meetings of the Chamber 
and report them, and this was granted with the proviso that 
he should submit his reports for revision to the President or 
Secretary and should furnish slips to other newspapers. From 
this time the meetings of the Chamber seem to have been 
reported regularly in the newspapers. 

In October, 1843, the dues of members, in addition to 



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64 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



the admission fee, were reduced from ten dollars to one 
dollar. 

Various memorials were sent to Congress during this period, 
including one advocating the appointment of consular agents 
to China for the encouragement of commercial intercourse; 
one against a duty on railroad iron; one in favor of the estab- 
lishment of a Hydrographic Department in the National Ob- 
servatory at Washington; and several urging the removal of 
obstructions in the Hell Gate Channel. 

In May, 1849, the membership of the Chamber was re- 
corded officially as two hundred and five, with all dues paid. 
With so large a membership the general interest appears to 
have been slight, for at the same time the number necessary 
for a quonma was reduced from thirteen to nine. 



CHAPTER XIV 
NEW QUARTERS AND BROADER ACTIVITIES 

SUPPRESSION OF PRIVATEERING SOUGHT— MEETINGS IN CLIN- 
TON HALL — FIRST ANNUAL REPORT 

1851-1858 

During the period between 1851 and 1853 the attention of 
the Chamber was confined quite steadily to matters relating 
to trade and commerce, both of the city and the country at 
large. Repeated action of various kinds was taken in regard 
to warehousing, pilots, harbor improvements, and similar 
subjects, and a memorial was sent to the Legislature in favor 
of the adoption of an amendment to the Constitution which 
would enable the State to borrow enough money to complete 
the Erie Canal. In April, 1853, a report of the Treasurer 
showed that there were two hundred and fifteen members of 
the Chamber, and there had been collected in dues for the 
past three years six hundred and twenty-five dollars. 

An earnest efifort was made in January, 1854, to extend 
further the usefulness of the Chamber by securing more com- 
modious quarters and enlarging its activities as a body of 
citizens devoted to the welfare and progress of the city and 
nation. A committee, which had been appointed for the 
purpose, made an elaborate report on January 6, which 
showed that the society continued steadfast in the spirit of 
the founders. A few passages are worth quoting in evidence 
of this fact: 

This city in its vast amplitudes is growing up to such ^gantic 
importance as to draw upon us the attention of the entire com- 
mercial world, justifying their right to expect from us the establish- 

6s 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



ment and perpetuity of intelligent rules and principles of action 
in all the business relations of society. 

In its early history the Chamber was under the guidance of 
men whose councils aided essentially in the memorable events of 
our revolutionary struggle. 

Although, during some of the subsequent portions of the his- 
tory of this corporation, we may have been somewhat less energetic 
than we should have been, yet it can be confidently said that no 
step had ever been taken in it, tending to diminish its high-toned 
respectability. 

In view of all this, we should not permit the slightest relaxation 
in our energies; on the contrary, we should press on with a deter- 
mined zeal to sustain the character which our predecessors have 
established, thereby drawing our merchants into new habitudes 
of social intercourse generating a local tone and esprit de corps 
that is becoming more and more important as our city increases 
in power and wealth. 

As the city is destined to increase with incalculable rapidity, we 
feel the need of an organized body of commercial men to maintain 
a watchful care over our interests and to be in readiness at all 
times to furnish our national and state Governments with reliable 
information upon points affecting our general welfare as business 
men and citizens. 



The committee recommended that the Legislature be re- 
quested to so amend the charter as to permit the meetings of 
the Chamber to be held on any one of the six working-days of 
the week, instead of on Tuesday only; that the Chamber se- 
cure some commodious and suitably located room connected 
with proper accommodation for the safe deposit of the books, 
records, maps, documents, etc., of the society; that the 
annual dues be increased to three dollars, and immediate 
steps be taken to collect arrearages. The committee sug- 
gested that the desired result might be accomplished by the 
purchase or erection of a building, part of which could be 
rented so as to leave the Chamber free of rent. 

The report of the Committee was accepted imanimously. 
On being appealed to, the Legislature amended the charter 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



67 



as desired, and the by-laws were amended soon afterward, 
making Thursday in the first week of each month the day of 
meeting instead of Tuesday. The subject of suitable rooms 
was under quite regular discussion for four years. The com- 
mittee was enlarged, and its powers were increased by giving 
it authority to engage a room at a rental not exceeding fifteen 
hundred dollars; to devise the proper mode for raising the 
funds requisite, and to superintend the fitting up of the rooms 
when secured. Finally, on March 11, 1858, the committee 
were authorized to select from four obtainable suites of rooms 
the one which in their judgment was most suitable, and they 
chose one in the Underwriters' Building at William and 
Cedar Streets. A corresponding secretary was chosen at a 
salary of one thousand dollars, and one thousand dollars was 
appropriated for the purchase of books. On June 10, 1858, 
the new quarters were formally taken possession of, with an 
address by Charles King, president of Columbia College, and 
they continued to be the home of the Chamber till 1884. 

During the period in which the question of removal was 
under discussion the Chamber continued to exert its influence 
in many directions. In April, 1854, it addressed a memorial 
to the President asking him to "open negotiations with other 
powers for the suppression of privateering and also for the 
recognition of the principle that free ships make free goods, 
and the neutral flag gives neutrality to the cargo." 

At the same time, the Chamber sent a memorial to Congress 
asking for the passage of such laws as would in their opinion 
check and eventually put a stop to privateering. The fol- 
lowing passage was an additional indication that the Cham- 
ber was not a timid society in international controversies: 
"Especially do your memorialists believe that the present 
Belligerents (France and England) would not voluntarily in- 
crease the too probable hazard of a war with America on this 
point." 

A memorial was addressed to Congress in February, 1856, 






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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



strongly urging a treaty of reciprocity with Canada. In 
November a recommendation was made to the City Coimcil 
to "employ steam as an arm of the Fire Department in the 
lower districts of the city," and respectfully urging the "im- 
portance of obtaining the most reliable engine for that pur- 
pose." 

The size of the membership of the Chamber in 1856 is re- 
vealed in the Secretary's report, showing that dues for the 
three years ending in May of that year amounted to $202.30, 
which had been collected from 303 members. The amount 
collected was less than a third of that collected in the pre- 
ceding three-year period, but no explanation was given of the 

decrease. « 

A new departure was made in 1856 when a proposal was 
adopted to hold evening sessions of the Chamber quarterly, at 
Clinton Hall, in the months of January, April, July, and Oc- 
tober. The first of these was held on October 6, 1856, and 
others followed regularly for several years. They seem to 
have been well attended. The last one was held in Janu- 
ary, 1859, when it was voted that quarterly meetings be dis- 
continued. 

In March, 1858, an amendment was proposed to the by- 
laws increasing the annual dues from three to ten dollars. 
This was adopted. The latter figure was the one in force 
from 1840 till 1843, when it was reduced to one dollar. 

The Chamber made the year 1858 a notable one in its 
history by beginning the publication of an annual report, the 
first of a series which has been continued without interrup- 
tion to the present time. It was a volume of about four 
hundred pages and may be said justly to have set a standard 
for its successors, for it was a model of what such a publica- 
tion should be. In announcing it, as a record of the year 1858, 
its compilers said the Chamber had decided that an annual 
report be issued hereafter under the direction of its Executive 
Committee, "with a view to illustrate, as far as practicable 




i 



MERCHANTS' EXCHANGE, 1827. 

The Fifth Home of the Chamber of Commerce from 1827 to 1835. This building was destroyed in the 

great fire of 1835. 

From a print in the Emmet Collection, New York Public Library. 



! '! 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



69 



in a single volume, the condition of mercantile affairs in our 
city during the preceding year, with reference also to any im- 
portant changes in the business markets of the state at large, 
connected with the general trade of the country." It was 
added: 

In the absence of a governmental volume from the Treasury 
Department, or from a Bureau of Statistics at Washington, illus- 
trating the interests of foreign and domestic commerce of the 
several States, it becomes the legitimate duty of the Chamber of 
Commerce annually to exhibit, as far as practicable, the progress 
of trade, commerce, and manufactures in our city, and such collat- 
eral topics as concern the interests of our merchants. It is con- 
sidered that such a volume might appropriately exhibit, I. The 
imports and exports of staples from the city and state. II. Trade 
reports for the year. III. A review of the financial movements of 
the year. IV. The progress and condition of manufactures. 
V. Laws of the United States for the year, and of the State of 
New York, of a commercial character. VI. Journal of Proceed- 
ings of the Chamber. 



This programme was admirably carried out in the first vol- 
imie, which is a mine of information on all the subjects men- 
tioned. As a pioneer in the field which has since been filled 
with intelligence and ability, it was a really remarkable produc- 
tion. In a summary of the developments of the year 1858, it 
was pointed out that the completion of the Atlantic cable, the 
negotiation of treaties with China, Siam, and Japan, and the 
rapid recovery of values from the revulsion of 1857, united to 
make 1858 an important era in the commercial history of the 
United States. 

^ In fact, the psychological moment for a publication of this 
kind had arrived, and the members of the Chamber, animated 
as always by an intelligent and vigilant devotion to the public 
interest, were prompt to recognize it. If the year 1858 
marked an era in the commercial history of the country, it 
marked one also in the history of the Chamber of Commerce, 



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70 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

for as an organization it placed itself on an enduring founda- 
tion and advanced to a wider field of usefulness than it had 
ever known. Its membership at this time was five hundred 
and fifty. 



1 






CHAPTER XV 
THE CIVn. WAR 

PROMPT ACTION OF THE CHAMBER IN SUPPORTING THE 
GOVERNMENT AND THE NATIONAL CREDIT 

1861 

When the news of the firing upon Fort Sumter came in 
April, 1861, the Chamber did not hesitate a second as to its 
duty in the crisis. A special meeting was called on April 
19, the day on which President Lincoln issued his proclama- 
tion declaring the ports of Southern States to be in a state of 
blockade, and the attendance was "large and enthusiastic." 
The key-note of the gathering was sounded by the President of 
the Chamber, Pelatiah Perit, in a brief speech which deserves 
and holds high rank among the patriotic American utterances 
of all time. It is reproduced here in full, as an enduring honor 
to its author and to the body over which he was presiding: 

We are assembled to-day in special meeting, at the written 
request of many of our members, according to the requirements of 
our by-laws. It has been the habit of this Board not to inter- 
meddle with the political questions which agitate the country; 
but there are occasions on which the ordinary rules of proceed- 
ings must give way to peculiar emergencies, and such an occasion 
has arisen to-day. The nation has, in the course of events sudden 
and unexpected, reached a crisis unprecedented in our history, 
when the safety of the government is threatened, and when the 
President of the United States, compelled by this alarming state 
of things, has called on the citizens to rally to the defence of the 
government. As an influential body of men in this commercial 
centre, we are bound to respond heartily to this call. I trust, 

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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



gentlemen, that in the discussion of this morning, we shall forget 
all party distinction, and, with unanimity and warm hearts, rally 
in support of a constitution and government the best in the world, 
and under which we have lived and prospered since the close of 
the Revolutionary war. All which has been ours in time past, and 
which constitutes our hope for time to come, is at stake. Under 
the specious name of secession, traitors have seized the public prop- 
erty, have attacked the national forts, and are now threatening 
thejQational capital. The prime of our young men are marching 
to its defence. Let us meet the crisis like patriots and men. There 
can be no neutrality now — we are either for the country or for its 
enemies. 

A series of resolutions was presented in which it was de- 
clared that the Chamber had witnessed "with lively satisfac- 
tion the determination to maintain the constitution and vin- 
dicate the supremacy of government and law at every haz- 
ard"; that the so-called secession of some of the Southern 
States having at last culminated in open war against the 
United States, "the American people can no longer defer their 
decision between anarchy and despotism, on the one side, 
and on the other liberty, order, and law, imder the most 
benign government the world has ever known"; that "this 
Chamber, forgetful of past differences of political opinion 
among its members, will, with unanimity and patriotic ardor, 
support the government in this great crisis, and it hereby 
pledges its best efforts to sustain its credit and facilitate its 
financial operations"; and that "it recommends to the 
government the instant adoption and prosecution of a policy 
so vigorous and resistless that it will crush out treason now 
and forever." 

The members left no doubt as to their sentiments, for they 
sprang to their feet and adopted the resolutions unanimously 
with ringing cheers. 

A copy of the resolutions was sent to President Lincoln and 
a few days later the following acknowledgment was received 
from the Secretary of State: 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



73 



Department of State, Washington, 
26th April, 1861. 

To Pelatiah Perit, Esq., President of the Chamber of Commerce , 
New York : 

Sir, — ^The resolutions of the Chamber of Commerce concerning 
the present attitude of public affairs, although sent forward so 
early as the 20th inst., have, in consequence of postal obstructions, 
only just now reached this Department. I have lost no time in 
submitting them to the President of the United States. 

He directs me to assure the Chamber of Commerce that he has 
read the resolutions with the highest appreciation of the loyalty, 
patriotism and liberality of that body; and to the end, that they 
may find a just place in the history of this, the most important 
crisis, save one, that our country has been called to meet, I have 
deposited the resolutions in the archives of the government. 

I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, 

your obedient servant, 

William H. Seward. 



T 



In order to put the pledge of support into instant action 
a committee was appointed to procure subscriptions for the 
balance of about $8,000,000 which remained unsubscribed 
to the loan of $25,000,000 which the Government had au- 
thorized in February, 1861. Subscriptions for the desired 
amount were made and the Secretary of the Treasury was 
informed that this sum could be drawn at once. 

Another committee was appointed to raise funds in aid 
of the volunteers of the city and their families, and at the 
next meeting in May this committee reported that they had 
collected $115,853, of which $92,884 had been expended for 
the equipment of troops, and the balance, $22,969, had been 
transferred to the treasurer of the Union Defense Com- 
mittee. At the June meeting it was voted that a suitable 
medal be struck and presented to each of the officers and mem- 
bers of the garrison under command of Major Anderson at 
Fort Sumter and Lieutenant Slemmer at Fort Pickens. 
Later 168 medals were distributed at a cost of $1,500 which 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



was raised by subscription among the members. In May, 
1862, Major Anderson, who had been promoted to General, 
attended the annual meeting of the Chamber and was for- 
mally presented with a medal. 

Jealous as ever of the honor of the nation, the Chamber felt 
moved at its meeting in August, 186 1, to pass the following 
resolutions: 

Whereas, The government of the United States is engaged in 
a contest for the suppression of rebellion, and for the maintenance 
of the integrity of the Union which is destined to make a large 
demand upon the pecuniary resources of the country, and the 
demand must chiefly be met by means of repeated loans; 

Resolved, That, in the judgment of this Chamber, the success of 
the proposed loans will depend upon the enactment of Congress, 
now in session, of revenue and internal tax bills adapted to the 
existing emergency; or that, if the government should succeed in 
procming money without making wise provision for the reim- 
bursement of principal and interest, it will be upon terms dis- 
creditable to the national name and prejudicial to the national 
interest. 



CHAPTER XVI 
REBUKE TO PACIFISTS 

LEGAL-TENDER ISSUE FAVORED — LETTERS FROM JOHN BRIGHT 

AND ADMIRAL FARRAGUT 

1862-1863 

Perhaps the most significant utterance, after its first de- 
liverance in April, 1861, made by the Chamber in the first 
year of the war, occurred in September following. Peace 
talk had aroused the indignation of members, and the voice 
of the Copperhead had begun to be heard in the land. A 
series of resolutions, admirably designed to arouse and guide 
the spirit of patriotism, was presented: 

Whereas, The progress of the war in defence of the Union and 
Constitution has given evidence of a degree of strength and energy 
on the part of those who are madly striving to destroy them, 
which can only be subdued by the marshalling of an overwhelm- 
ing force; and whereas, it is evident that to this end all the re- 
sources, both in men and means, in the loyal States, will be needed, 
if we would avoid a protracted struggle and secure the blessings 
of an early, honorable and enduring peace; and whereas humanity 
and interest alike demand the speedy attainment of this end; 
therefore. 

Resolved, That this Chamber, in view of the unexpected magni- 
tude of the contest, deems it a duty to renew its pledge to the 
government of earnest sympathy and support. 

Resolved, That the members of the Chamber, having entire 
confidence in the integrity and ability of the head of the Treasury 
Department, will exert their best efforts individually and col- 
lectively, and in their connections with moneyed institutions, to 
strengthen the financial resources and credit of the government. 

Resolved, That this Chamber pledges to the government its un- 
faltering support in a vigorous prosecution of the war, until every 

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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



rebel has laid down his arms, and every State returned to its 
allegiance. The contest, it believes, admits of no other termina- 
tion, since any other basis of peace would dishonor the nation, 
and prove to the world that our cherished form of popular govern- 
ment is a failure. 

Resolved, That all aid afforded to the enemy, either by supply- 
ing means of prosecuting the war, or by openly advocating their 
cause, is treasonable, and should be promptly punished with the 
utmost rigor of the law and by the stern rebuke of public opinion. 

Resohedy That the decisive course recently adopted by the 
government and its commanding officers, affords gratifying proof 
that the future of this contest is not to be controlled by the quixotic 
idea of prosecuting war in the spirit of peace, but that the guilty 
conspirators will be made to feel, both in their persons and their 
property, all the rigors that the usage of civilized warfare will jus- 
tify. 

In February, 1862, the Chamber came again to the 
support of the government when the legal-tender question 
was under discussion by adopting the following resolutions 
by acclamation: 

Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Chamber, the present 
financial condition of the government, and of the country, re- 
quires the immediate passage of the bill now before Congress, 
which authorizes the issue of $100,000,000 United States notes, 
as a circulating medium, and makes said notes, with the $50,- 
000,000 demand notes heretofore issued, a legal tender in pay- 
ment of all debts. 

Resolved, That the merchants of New York will sustain the 
government, by all the means within their power, in giving credit 
and currency to these notes, until they can be placed on a specie 
basis by the imposition of taxes adequate for their redemption. 

While by its formal action as a society the Chamber up- 
held the government in all its war measures, the members of 
the Chamber as individuals and citizens joined heartily in all 
popular demonstrations to the same end. Under resolutions 
by the Chamber, its members co-operated with other organiza- 
tions in a great mass-meeting in Union Square on April 20, 




JOHN BRIGHT. 

Painted hy }. Fagnani in 1865. Collection of the Chamber of Commerce. 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



77 



1861, and in another in the same place on July 15, 1862. On 
both occasions speeches were made and resolutions adopted 
pledging the fullest support to the government in men and 
money, and urging the prosecution of the war relentlessly till 
victory was won. In the period of despondency which fol- 
lowed the elections in the fall of 1862 the Chamber adhered 
undismayed and imqualifiedly to its position of absolute 
loyalty. Early in 1863, at its monthly meeting on February 
5, a long series of resolutions was adopted on the state of 
the country which left no doubt in any one's mind as to the 
position of the Chamber. In a preamble the events which 
had led to the war were reviewed, the results of the first two 
years of conflict were enumerated, and recognition was made 
of the fact that "there is manifest at the present tune in 
certain quarters, a feeling of impatience and despondency that 
is unworthy of a brave people and wholly unwarranted by 
the existing condition of public affairs." Among the resolu- 
tions were the following: 

Resolved, That at this interesting juncture, it behooves loyal 
citizens of New York to contemplate anew the work which, in the 
providence of God, it is given them to do; that it becomes wise 
men to look calmly and brave men to look hopefully toward the 
issue of the existing struggle. 

Resolved, That as it is a Christian duty to respect and obey, 
so it is the patriot's duty to honor and uphold "the powers that 
be" — to lighten the burdens that devolve on the Executive and 
Heads of Departments, disproportioned as they are to human 
strength, and it is not a loyal part to aggravate these burdens by 
the voice of unnecessary and injurious complaint. 

Resolved, further, That the spirit of party which stifles love of 
country, is too manifest at the present time, and through the 
divisions it creates, and the animosities it awakens, is to be feared 
and deprecated as the ally of rebellion, and it should be rebuked, 
discouraged and banished from our midst. 

A proceeding of historical interest took place at the regular 
meeting of the Chamber on March 6, 1862. Mention was 









78 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

made of the services of John Bright in championing the Union 
cause in England and the following resolutions were unani- 
mously and enthusiastically adopted: 

Resolved, That the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New 
York does hereby record its grateful sense of the intelligent, elo- 
quent, just and fearless manner in which Mr. John Bright of 
Birmingham, has advocated, before the people of England and in 
the British parUament, the principles of Constitutional liberty 
and international justice for which the American people are con- 
tending. 

Resolved, That these proceedings be communicated to Mr. 

Bright and published. 

The action of the Chamber was communicated to Mr. 
Bright and in due course the subjoined interesting and valu- 
able letter was received from him in April, 1862: 

London, April 4. 

Dear Sir,— I have received, through the hands of the Hon. 

Mr. Adams, the minister of the United States, your letter of the 

8th of March, and the resolution unanimously adopted by the 

Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York on the 6th of 

March. I wish you to convey to the eminent body of gentlemen 

over whom you preside, the expression of my sense of the honor 

they have conferred upon me, and of the pleasure which it gives 

me to know that the course I have taken in reference to the events 

which are now passmg in your country has met with the warm 

approval of those whom they represent. I accept their most kmd 

resolution, not only as honorable to myseH, but as a manifestation 

of friendly feeUng to the great majority of my countrymen, whose 

true sentiments I beUeve I have not mistaken or misrepresented, 

when I have spoken on the side of your government and people. 

I beUeve there is no other country in which the men have been 
so free and so prosperous as in yours, and that there is no other 
poUtical constitution now in existence in the preservation of which 
the human race is so deeply interested as in that under which you 
live. This is true, beyond all doubt, when applied to the free 
States of your Union. I trust the time is not distant when it will 
be true over all your vast territory, from the St. Lawrence to the 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 79 

Gulf of Mexico. Notwithstanding much misapprehension, and 
some recent excitement, I am sure that an overwhelming majoritv 
of the people of the United Kingdom will rejoice at the success of 
your government and at the complete restoration of your Union 
While asking you to convey the expression of my grateful feelings 
to the members of your Chamber, I desire to tender to you my 
thanks for the very kind letter from yourself which accompanied 
the resolution. 

I am, with very great respect, very truly yours, 

John Bright 
To P Perit, Esq., President of the Chamber of Commerce of the 
State of New York. 

When in March, 1863, the news of Farragut's famous vic- 
tory on the Mississippi reached the Chamber a series of 
resolutions was passed amid great enthusiasm, extolling the 
admiral's skill, gaUantry, and perseverance; declaring that 
he had "achieved one of the most celebrated victories of any 
time; had added a new and lustrous page to the naval history 
of the United States, and proved himself the worthy peer of 
those earHer heroes of the repubHc who shrank from no ob- 
stacle"; that "in the progress of the war for the unity and 
life of this great nation no services have been more eminent" 
than his, and that "this Chamber watches with profound in- 
terest the course of the admiral and will hail with joy and 
hope the day when, at the head of some noble squadron, he 
may again lead the victorious navy to the restoration of other 
cities to the national rule." 

An engrossed copy of the resolutions was sent to the ad- 
miral, who in reply transmitted the foUowing letter which is 
one of the most highly prized historical documents in the 
archives of the Chamber: 

• AsTOR House, New York, December 16, 1863. 

John Austin Stevens, Esq., Secretary of Chamber of Commerce: 

Str,--l have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the resolu- 
tions of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York in 
relation to myself, handsomely engrossed on parchment, accom- 



I 
If 









So 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



panied by your kind letter, fulfilling the requirements of said reso- 
lutions in presenting the copy. 

In reply, I beg you, sir, to express to that honorable body my 
sincere thanks for this, and other distinguished marks of their 
high appreciation of the services I have rendered our common coun- 
try, and particularly its commerce, both internal and external, 
by what they are pleased to consider "one of the most celebrated 
achievements of any time — the capture of New Orleans." 

That we did our duty to the best of our ability I believe; that a 
kind Providence smiled upon us, and enabled us to overcome 
obstacles before which, I fear, the stoutest of our hearts would 
have otherwise quailed, I am certain; and I trust that the recipient 
of these honors will ever remember the injimction of the poet: 

If thou hast strength, 

From Heaven that strength's bestowed; 

For know, vain man, that valor belongs to God: 

'Tis man's to fight. 

But God's to give success. 

Being on the eve of departing for my station, I fully feel, and 
shall gratefully cherish, their kind sentiments of interest and hope 
for the success of the fleet which I have the honor to coromand; 
and that those hopes may be realized is the prayer of your obedient 
servant, 

D. G. Farragut, 

Rear Admiral U. S. Navy. 



CHAPTER XVII 
"ALABAMA" ACTS CONDEMNED 

A CAMPAIGN OF EDUCATION IN THE CASE— REWARDS TOR THE 

vessel's captors 

I863-I864 

A PUBLIC service, peculiarly within its functions as a com- 
mercial body, was performed by the Chamber in 1862 and 1863 
Repeatedly during those years it made vigorous protests 
agamst the action of Great Britain in aUowing the Alabama 
and other Confederate piratical craft to be fitted out in 
British ports in order to prey upon Northern vessels. 
In October, 1862, a series of resolutions was adopted de- 
nouncing the conduct of Captain Semmes of the Alabama 
m burmng Northern ships at sea, warning the merchants of 
Great Britain that the "repetition of such acts could not fail 
to produce wide-spread exasperation in this country " and de- 
claring it to be the "desire of this Chamber, as it is the inter- 
est of aU Its members, to cherish sentiments of amity with the 
people of Great Britain, to maintain those cordial relations 
which have led to profitable intercourse, and to strengthen 
the ties that knit them together in mutual courtesy and 
respect." 

In January, 1863, a special committee which had been 
appomted to consider the subject, made a report in which 
the action of the previous year was recaUed, the various acts 
of piracy by the Alabama and the Florida were described, and 
the foUowing recommendation was made: "In conclusion 
your committee beHeve it is best at the present time, that the 
action of this Chamber should be limited to a statement of 
facts, as they bear upon a gigantic wrong to our country and 
Its commerce, so that pubHc opinion throughout the world 

81 









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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



may be directed to the import of these facts and the dangers 
they involve, in the hope, too, that by this means the wrong 
may be repaired and the danger averted." 

Several attempts were made later, when the news of the 
destruction of other vessels arrived, to induce the Chamber 
to take more aggressive action, but without success. The 
Chamber adhered to its policy of stating the facts and resting 
there. There was no timidity, however, in the manner in 
which the facts were stated. At a meeting on March 5, 
1863, when the question was brought up again, Abiel A. Low 
expressed the general feeling among the members by saying: 

This constant burning of our vessels by ships manned and built 
in Great Britain is a wrong which cannot be tolerated. It tends to 
war. We may disguise it as we please, but that is its tendency. 
It is time for Great Britain to consider that, if it takes all the 
vessels of our navy to arrest the ravages of the Alabama and 
the Oreto, how many of the ships of the navy of Great Britain 
it would take to arrest the destructiveness of privateers which 
would be fitted out in this country, in case of war. England may 
believe that our country is tried to the extent of all its energies in 
suppressing the rebellion, but there may be a mistake upon that 
subject. The United States are able to put down the rebellion, 
and, beyond suppressing the rebellion, to vindicate the character 
of the nation against any and all people who invade their rights. 

Letters were written by order of the Chamber to the Presi- 
dent and Secretary of the Navy and also to the Chambers 
of Commerce in Liverpool and Glasgow setting forth the facts 
in the case. The President of the Liverpool Chamber replied, 
enclosing an order passed by that body substantially con- 
curring in the American view, and saying that he was requested 
also by the members of that body "to convey an expression of 
the regret they feel that the injuries which form the subject of 
your conmiunications, and which have been done to the 
commerce of a friendly nation as well as to our own, should 
have been inflicted by a vessel built in England." The Glas- 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



«3 



gow Chamber expressed cordial agreement with the New 
York Chamber's sentiments in favor of international unity, 
and added that questions of international law involved in the 
matter, being of the most delicate character, fell within the 
province of Her Majesty's Government in whose justice and 
wisdom the Chamber had full confidence. 

In its letter to the Secretary of the Navy, July 23, 1863, 
the Chamber said that one hundred and fifty vessels, including 
two steamers, representing a tonnage of upward of sixty 
thousand tons, and a value exceeding twelve million dollars, 
had been destroyed by the rebel privateers up to that time. 
The Secretary, Gideon Welles, replied briefly, saying that 
"measures have been taken to protect our commerce, and 
steamers have already been distributed over the tracks in- 
dicated in the memorial" which the Chamber had sent to him. 

Nothing more upon the subject appears in the minutes of 
the Chamber till about a year later, when it is recorded, on 
July 7, 1864, that a member called the attention of the Cham- 
ber to the services rendered to commerce by Captain John A. 
Winslow, the officers and crew of the United States sloop of 
war Kearsarge in the destruction of the steamer Alabama, 
and moved that a committee be appointed to report to the 
Chamber in what manner it should express its appreciation 
of their gallantry and service to the shipping and commercial 
interests of the country. This proposal was received with en- 
thusiasm, a conmiittee was appointed, and on October 8 it 
made a report, submitting a draft of a letter to be addressed 
to Captain Winslow and his associates, and recommending 
that the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars be raised for the 
purchase of medals or other testimonials which it might be 
deemed proper for the Chamber to present to them as proof 
of high appreciation and as tokens by which "an event of 
great interest in the naval history of the country may be 
kept in lasting and honored remembrance." 

The Chamber adopted the report with its letter and recom- 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



mendation, and forwarded an engrossed copy of the letter to 
Captain Winslow. The letter, which is too long to quote in 
full, reviewed the history of the Alabama and Great Britain's 
connection with it, reiterating its frequently expressed views 
thereon, and added: 

The Chamber is heartily glad that the Kearsarge under your 
command, has sent this pest of the ocean to her merited doom, 
and would that all the bad feelings she engendered had gone down 

with her ! 

The conflict between the Kearsarge and Alabama affords other 
grounds of satisfaction. It marks a new epoch in naval war- 
fare, and adds a brilliant page to the naval history of the nation. 

This Chamber would recognize the skill, coohiess and intrepidity 
with which the Kearsarge was manoeuvred in the combat with 
her formidable foe, and takes pleasure in making this record of the 
event in its book of minutes. 

Captain Winslow sent a modest letter of thanks in reply in 
which he said: "The destruction of the Alabama is an event 
which I do not affect to say, under the attending circum- 
stances, was of great importance in influencing our foreign rela- 
tions at the time, aside from the benefit derived from ridding 
the ocean of the most destructive pest upon our commerce." 

The committee charged with deciding upon the form which 
the testimonial was to take concluded to divide the fund 
among the captain, ojQ&cers, and crew in the same manner 
that prize-money is divided. They had little difficulty in rais- 
ing twenty-five thousand dollars, which they apportioned as 
follows: Captain Winslow, ten thousand dollars; officers, 
ten thousand dollars; crew, five thousand dollars. The com- 
mittee paid a personal visit to Captain Winslow, whom they 
found to be, according to their report, "as urbane as a gentle- 
man as he is gallant as a sailor, and in their agreeable inter- 
view were pleasantly reminded of the truth of the old asser- 
tion, that the greatest courage is most often allied to the most 
gentle demeanor." 



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ADMIRAL DAVID G. FARRAGUT, U. S. N. 

From a painting: by Thomas W. Wood. Collection of the Chamber of Commerce. 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 85 

^ A fuU report of aU the acts of the Chamber in this interest- 
ing historical incident, together with the correspondence with 
Captain Winslow, the names of the subscribers to the twenty- 
five-thousandKioUar fund with the amount given by each, 
and the names of all the recipients, is published in the Appen- 
dix of the Annual Report of the Chamber of 1864-1865. 

The Chamber had exceUent reasons for pride in its course 
durmg this critical period. Its persistent agitarion of the 
matter, its forcible and feariess statements of the nature of 
the offense committed by Great Britain in connection with 
the Alabama and its fellow privateers, and its patriotic course 
m confining its efforts to a plain statement of facts, trusting 
public opinion to recognize the merits of the case, all combined 
to secure a just solution of a question of vital importance to 
both countries. The justice and sound law of their whole 
conduct in the affair were demonstrated conclusively many 
years later in tiie verdict of fifteen million five hundred thou- 
sand doUars on the Alabama claims, awarded to the United 
States by the Geneva Tribunal in 1872. Joseph H. Choate 
said of this: "I believe it to have been the largest pecuniary 
award ever rendered in such an arbitration." 

Another subject which tiie Chamber kept constantly in 

mind during this period was the proper defense of the harbor. 

It sent memorial after memorial about it to the President, 

to Congress, to tiie State Legislature, and to the City Counca! 

The Legislature, in tiie winter of 1862-1863, appropriated a 

million dollars for tiie purpose, and such progress had been 

made that a report to tiie Chamber, on October i, 1863, by tiie 

chairman of tiie Committee on Harbor Defenses, pronounced 

the defenses, on the authority of Colonel Richard Delafield of 

tiie United States Engineers, to be "in a satisfactory and im- 

proymg condition" and that tiiere was "no cause for any 

anxiety in the public mind as to the abihty of New York to 

defend herself against any attack whatever." 



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CHAPTER XVIII 
END OF THE WAR 

SURRENDER OF LEE — DEATH OF LINCOLN — ^DELEGATION TO THE 

FUNERAL — GRATEFUL LETTER FROM SECRETARY SEWARD 

— CENTENNLVL ANNIVERSARY OF THE CHAMBER 

1865-1868 

The news of the surrender of Lee arrived when the Cham- 
ber was in session on April 10, 1865. It was voted that in 
view of the "glorious news" the regular order of business be 
suspended, and the members devoted themselves to the prep- 
aration of formal expressions of rejoicing. A series of resolu- 
tions was adopted by acclamation in which, with justifiable 
pride, it was recalled that the Chamber at the outbreak of 
the rebellion had solemnly pledged to the support of the 
government the vast resources of this commercial community 
and had since, at each and every time, when the credit or 
honor of the nation had been in danger, renewed that pledge. 
The following declarations were added: 

'Resolvedy That with reverence and thankfulness to Almighty 
God, "Who hath given us the victory,'' this Chamber propose to 
unite with their fellow-citizens in celebrating the triumphs of 
our arms, both on sea and land, which have restored the national 
unity, vindicated the right and power of the General Government, 
and shown to a doubting world that we have a country worthy of 
preservation, and which we are able and willing to preserve. 

Resolvedy That our thanks are tendered to the President of the 
United States, his official advisers, and the officers, soldiers and 
sailors of our army and navy, from General Grant to the smallest 
drummer boy. 

Resolved, That while rejoicing, we must not forget the afflicted 

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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



87 



who mourn for the loss of relatives and friends who have fallen 
dead or wounded in this great struggle for freedom and law, and 
we tender to them our most earnest sympathies. 

It was also resolved to accept an invitation, received from 
the Common Council, to join "in one grand and patriotic 
jubilee," on April 20, the day fixed by the Governor of the State 
for such a celebration. An additional resolution was also 
adopted, expressing the opinion that the rebellion had been 
imduly prolonged during the last two years mainly by the 
recognition given to it by the Continental powers of Europe, 
and adding: 

Resolved, That the thanks of the American people are due to 
the great masses in Europe who, since the origin of our unjusti- 
fiable rebellion, have sympathized with the success of the consti- 
tutional cause — the triumph of which is assured by the series of 
great events which have just taken place under the transcendent 
genius and skill of Lieutenant-General Grant, and the patriotic 
co-operation of Generals Sherman, Sheridan, and others under 
his command; and we assure them that the United States, in the 
future as in the past, will furnish a home and afford protection to 
all who recognize constitutional representative government as 
the best organization known among men for the promotion of 
individual, civil, religious and political liberty. 

An adjournment was taken till April 15, and in the min- 
utes of that meeting appears simply this entry in a heavy black 
border: 



News was received this day of the Assassination of 
Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, last 
evening, 14th April, 1865. 



No business was transacted, and an adjournment was 
taken till April 22, when the following was adopted: 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



IN MEMORIAM 



The death of Abraham Lincobi, late President of the United 
States of America, on Saturday, the 15th day of April, instant, 
by its suddenness and attendant circumstances, overwhehning 
the people of the whole land with a feeling of profound grief, this 
Chamber deems it proper, in assembling at the present time, to 
make record on its book of minutes of the loss sustained by the 
nation at a very important juncture in its affairs — a loss, the mag- 
nitude of which is made manifest in the most wide-spread demon- 
strations of sorrow, by the suspension of business for the space of 
six da)^s, during which our fellow-citizens have voluntarily with- 
drawn from their customary secular avocations, on Wednesday 
and Thursday, the i8th and 19th instants, in obedience to the 
proclamation of the civil authorities, closing their places of business, 
and resorting very generally to houses of public worship in a spirit 
of humiliation and prayer. 

The whole city draped in mourning testifies, as no language can,' 
to the universal sentiment — that a great and good man has de- 
parted this life. Sharing deeply in the nation's grief, and feeling 
deeply the greatness of the nation's loss, it is hereby 

Resolvedy That this Chamber will earnestly co-operate in any 
measure that may be suggested by the city authorities to receive 
and attend, with due respect, the remains of the late President of 
the United States in their passage through this city, on Monday 
and Tuesday next. 

Resolved, That this Chamber will cherish and honor the mem- 
ory of Abraham Lincoln as of one who was wise in council, and 
remarkable for his singleness of purpose; in practical good sense, 
upright aim and devotedness of life, resembUng the immortal 
Washington; who, throughout four years of civil war, so conducted 
and guided the administration of public affairs, as to lead up the 
minds of our people to a higher and still higher estimate of his 
character for sagacity combined with the utmost simplicity, for 
firmness tempered by moderation, for justice alHed with a spirit 
of conciliation, and that in death all parties are united in his 
praise, and vie with each other in their undivided homage; of whom 
it may be justly said, that if not first in war in his day and genera- 
tion, he was "first in peace and first in the hearts of his country- 



men. 



if 



In testimony whereof, this Chamber orders that the foregoing 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



89 



be entered at length on its book of records, and that a copy of the 
same be sent to the family of the deceased, with whom it is a nation's 
privilege to sympathize and mourn as for a common and irreparable 
loss. 

It was voted to accept the invitation of the city authorities 
to join in the funeral ceremonies of the late President, which 
were to be held in Union Square, on April 25, and to take 
part as a body in the civic procession which was to follow. 

A committee of thirteen members that had been appointed 
to represent the Chamber at the funeral ceremonies in Wash- 
ington, on April 19, presented a report from which the ap- 
pended extracts are reproduced here as being of permanent 
historical interest: 

Impressed with the necessity of strengthening the Government 
by all possible means at this critical juncture in our pubHc affairs, 
your committee called on his Excellency, the present Chief Magis- 
trate, and assured him, in the name of the Chamber, that the same 
hearty, persistent, unbroken and vigorous support which had al- 
ways been given to President Lincoln would continue to be extended 
to him, thus suddenly called to the discharge of such important 
trusts at so critical a period and under circumstances so grave and 
unexpected; expressing to him at the same time their entire con- 
fidence that the destinies of the people would be safe in his keeping, 
and imploring for him the strengthening hand of a beneficent 
Providence. 

The President, in response, assured your committee that he 
felt imder great obligations for your encouragement and support. 
"For," said he, "in the emergencies that surroimd me, I need en- 
couragement and strength. I am not at this moment prepared 
to enter on any explanation of my future policy. Since my en- 
trance into political life, I have been somewhat actively engaged 
in pubHc affairs, and to the history of my past acts I refer for those 
principles which have governed me heretofore and which will 
guide me hereafter. By a dispensation of Providence, as appaUing 
as unexpected, I am forced to assume great responsibiUties, and 
no one can foresee the circumstances that will hereafter arise. 

"I shall, however, regard myself the humble instnmient of 
the American people, and, as their representative, endeavor to 



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maintain the principles of public justice, which accord with public 
morals and the best interests of the country. One great truth 
should be engraven on all hearts — treason is a crime, and traitors 
should be duly punished. I can only assure you, gentlemen, and 
the intelligent and patriotic body you represent, that my adminis- 
tration will be based on the Constitution and the laws; and, as 
events arise, I shall endeavor to meet them to the utmost of my 
ability, trusting in the assistance of that Providence which has 
hitherto guarded and preserved our republican institutions." 

While this committee was in Washington it addressed a 
copy of the Chamber's resolutions to Secretary Seward, and 
several weeks later the following letter was received from him, 
marked "imofficial": 

Department of State 

WASfflNGTON, Aug. 27, 1865. 
Having become so far convalescent as to be permitted to in- 
form myself of incidents which occurred during the early stages of 
my illness, I have today for the first time come to the knowledge of 
the resolutions which you had the kindness to address to me on the 
19th of April in the name and behalf of the Chamber of Commerce 
of the State of New York. 

There are no words in which I could adequately express the 
sense I entertain of the kindness which has been shown to me by 
my fellow-citizens generally during that illness. You will, there- 
fore, I am sure, be content with this hasty and simple, but grateful 
acknowledgment of the especial kindness which is manifested in 
your communication, and you will be pleased to convey the 
acknowledgment to the Chamber of Commerce. 
With grateful and affectionate regard 

Your obedient servant 

(Signed) William H. Seward. 

From the moment that the war was ended the Chamber 
devoted its influence imceasingly to the restoration of friendly 
relations between the two sections of the country. In May, 
1865, a series of resolutions was adopted, pledging renewed 
support to the government; expressing the hope that in the 
restoration of complete national authority, magnanimity and 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



91 



clemency would be shown and no act committed which could 
be condemned as needlessly harsh or revengeful by the cool 
judgment of the humane and liberty-loving in any part of the 
civilized world, and declaring that the Chamber hailed with , 
peculiar satisfaction the recent order of the President to "re- 
lieve the loyal citizens and well-disposed persons residing in 
the insurrectionary states, from unnecessary commercial 
restriction and to encourage them to return to peaceful pur- 
suits," because, in its opinion, an unrestricted commercial 
intercourse would prove to be the most powerful agency 
which could henceforth be employed for restoring peace and 
prosperity to all portions of our common country. 

The one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the 
Chamber was observed by a public meeting held in Irving 
Hall on April 6, 1868. That hall, which passed out of ex- 
istence many years ago, stood at the southeast comer of 
Fifteenth Street and Irving Place. It was decorated for the 
occasion with the American and British colors and the flags 
of the city and State of New York. Portraits of Royal 
Governor Colden, of John Cruger, first President of the Cham- 
ber, and of several of his successors, were displayed at the 
back of the platform. A large audience and many dis- 
tinguished guests, including the Governor and Lieutenant- 
Governor of the State, the Mayor of the city, ofl&cials of the 
National Government, and consuls of foreign governments, 
attended the exercises. Addresses were made by William E. 
Dodge, President of the Chamber, who presided, A. A. Low, 
and James De Peyster Ogden, former Presidents, George 
Opdyke, first Vice-President, Jonathan Sturges, and S. B. 
Chittenden. An interesting historical sketch of the cen- 
tury's history of the Chamber was read by John Austin 
Stevens, Jr., who was for six years the Secretary of the Cham- 
ber, and the historian of its colonial period. A full report of 
the celebration, with the addresses in full, was published in 
the Annual Report of the Chamber for 1867-1868. 



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CHAPTER XIX 
EFFORTS FOR HONEST GOVERNMENT 

COMMITTEE OF SEVENTY AND TWEED RING DEFEAT — SUPPORT 
OF POLICE INVESTIGATION — CHOLERA SCARE 

1871-1894 

No one can read the proceedings of the Chamber as they 
are recorded in the annual reports without being deeply im- 
pressed with the imtiring zeal and keen intelligence with which 
its members sought month by month and year by year to aid 
and advance the interests of trade and commerce by securing 
improvements in the harbor; better wharves and docks; 
better lighting of the channels and approaches; desirable 
amendments in the revenue, quarantine, warehouse, custom- 
house and similar laws; additional safeguards in ocean travel; 
better life-saving devices; improvement and enlargement of 
railway and canal transportation; in short, whatever was 
needed to enhance the welfare and strengthen the fame of 
the city as the first commercial metropolis of the world. Al- 
though not always immediately successful in these efforts, the 
records show that perseverance and determination almost inva- 
riably won in the end, with the general effect not only of widen- 
ing the field of activity but placing the commercial interests of 
the city and nation on a sounder and more creditable basis. 

From the earliest times the Chamber steadily maintained 
its character as a non-political body, but while doing so it 
was ever quick to recognize the advent of a situation in the 
conduct of municipal affairs in which the issue rose above 
partisanship and became one of good citizenship without 
distinction of party. An issue of this kind arose in 1871 when 

the righteous indignation of the city was aroused by the ex- 

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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



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posure of the Tweed Ring frauds made by the New York Times, 
When the incriminating figures were published, Mayor Oakey 
Hall wrote an adroit letter to the Chamber, requesting it to 
appoint a committee to conduct an examination of the public 
accounts of the city government and the condition of the city 
debt and make a report which should be a refutation of the 
exposures by the Times. The Chamber indignantly declined 
the proposal and immediately called a special meeting which 
resulted in the organization of the Committee of Seventy, 
composed largely of members, through whose guidance the 
municipal campaign of that year was conducted and the over- 
throw of the Tweed-Tammany Ring was secured. 

In like manner, when in 1894 the city was humiliated and 
alarmed by the misconduct of city affairs, especially in the 
Police Department, the Chamber took the lead in the demand 
for an investigation by the Legislature. At a meeting in Janu- 
ary, it appointed a special committee to represent it before 
the Legislature and the Constitutional Convention "with re- 
gard to any laws which may affect the good government of 
this city and the commercial prosperity of the State," and to 
advocate the "separation of municipal and State elections 
from State and national elections," and a single head for the 
Police Department. At the same time it declared that, "m 
the opinion of this Chamber, there should be a thorough 
legislative investigation of the Police Department." 

In response to this declaration, the Legislature appointed 
an investigating committee. When that committee began to 
uncover gross abuses, political influences at Albany combined 
to put an end to the inquiry, and they induced the Governor 
to veto an appropriation providing the funds necessary to 
carry it on. The Chamber came at once to the rescue and 
raised a fund of seventeen thousand five hundred dollars to 
be used in defraying expenses and paying counsel fees. The 
inquiry was continued and such startling revelations were 
made that the city rose in wrath at the following election, 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



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overthrew the Tammany government and substituted for it 
a reform, non-partisan administration with William L. Strong 
as Mayor. Out of this victory came the selection of Colonel 
Waring as Street Cleaning Commissioner and the inaugura- 
tion of a new era in that branch of city administration which 
has continued till this day. 

Another and no less beneficent reform was accomplished at 
this time through the leadership of the Chamber. The 
revelations of the investigating committee had shown that 
many of the poKce justices were shamefully incompetent and 
corrupt. The Chamber based on these revelations a demand 
for the abolition of the police-court system and started a popu- 
lar agitation which resulted in the abolition of those courts 
and the substitution of City Magistrate Courts in their place — 
a reform which has been shown in many years of practical 
operation to have been one of the most salutary ever achieved 
in the city's history. When the question was brought before 
the Chamber for action, Charles Stewart Smith, who was 
for many years its President, stated the attitude of the 
Chamber in matters pertaining to mimicipal affairs with 
clearness and force as follows: 

We are here in the interests of justice and righteousness; we 
are here in the interest of the poor, the despised and the neglected, 
asking that they should all have an equal chance before the law. 
Some of us may be politicians, some of us may be partisans, but 
after quite a long membership in this Chamber, and having been 
a regular attendant upon its sessions, I wish to record my convic- 
tion that the politicians and partisans in this Chamber leave politics 
and partisanship outside the door when they enter here. 

When Governor Tilden began his exposure of Canal Ring 
frauds in 1875, the Chamber came at once to his support, 
adopting, on April i, a series of resolutions in which it was 
declared that the Governor, "true to his honorable record 
against the fraudulent ring officials of this city, has now 









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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 95 

placed the citizens of our whole State under lasting obUga- 
tions by his bold and masterly exposure of the enormous frauds 
connected with the administration of the New York canals " 
Under the able leadership of Samuel B. Ruggles, a high author- 
ity on canal matters, the Chamber recommended the passage 
by the Legislature of an amendment to the State Constitution 
abohshmg the offices of canal commissioners and authorizmg 
the appointment by the Governor of a superintendent of 
pubhc works who should have control over aU canal matters. 
This proposal was accepted by the Legislature and the amend- 
ment suggested was subsequently ratified by the people of 
the State. A very salutary reform was thus accomph'shed. 

Another opportunity for genuine pubUc service arose in 
September, 1892, when the city became the victim of a 
genume "cholera scare." There was an epidemic of cholera 
in Germany, and ships had arrived in New York harbor with 
yictuns of the disease on board. These were detained in the 
ower bay and none of their passengers, weU or sick, was al- 
lowed to land. Incompetent and rather brutal conduct was 
exhibited by the quarantine officials in aUowing the detained 
vessels to be tossed about in the rough waters of the bay for 
several days. A steadily increasing protest arose throughout 
the city at this treatment. The Chamber caUed a special 
meetmg and appointed a committee which raised an emer- 
gency fund of nearly two hundred thousand doUars to be 
used m providing accommodations on land for the weU 
passengers The Governor of the State subsequently au- 
thorized the use of State money for the purpose, and the 
emergency fund was returned to the subscribers. The 
Chamber, deeply impressed with the gravity of the situation 
adopted a memorial to Congress in favor of the estabUshment 
of a national quarantme, with the ultimate result of the pas- 
sage by Congress of a law giving the National Government 
power to act in special emergencies in case of failure of dutv 
on the part of the State authorities. 



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CHAPTER XX 
ASSASSINATION OF GARFIELD 

FUND FOR HIS FAMILY — FAITH OF THE CHAMBER IN PRESIDENT 

ARTHUR 

1881 

When the news of the attempted assassination of President 
Garfield on July 2, 1881, was received a special meeting of 
the Chamber was called on the next day for July 7, and 
resolutions were then adopted expressing the "imspeakable 
grief and indignation" of the society, and extending the deep- 
est sympathy to the members of the President's family. Not 
content with this, the members of the Chamber, animated 
by the desire to relieve the President's mind of anxiety in 
regard to the needs of his family, started a subscription for a 
fund for their benefit in case of his death. Contributions 
were solicited from all parts of the country, with the result of 
securing ultimately a fund of about three hundred and sixty- 
two thousand dollars, which was invested for the benefit of 
the widow and other members of the family. Another special 
meeting was called in September when the death of the Presi- 
dent was announced, at which addresses were made and res- 
olutions adopted expressing the sorrow of the Chamber and 
its sympathy for the afflicted family. In the resolutions 
thoughts were expressed which were in the minds of many 
men at the time. The manner of his death was declared to 
be a "solemn warning to the American people" and made it 
a duty to consider carefully the causes which led to it. 
Without mincing words, it was declared that his death "was 
the natural result of party rancor, and of the demoralizing 

influence which the system of appointment to the civil ser- 

96 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



97 



vice has upon weak and depraved natures," and the earnest 
hope was expressed that "this calamity may lead the people 
to remedy evils which have long been apparent, but never 
so clearly as now." 

There was no dissenting voice when the resolutions were 
put to a vote. Later in the proceedings, an additional resolu- 
tion was adopted in which it was declared that in paying just 
tribute to the illustrious dead some consolation was to be 
found in the feeling and belief that the great loss to the 
nation would, "in an eminent degree, be lessened by the en- 
ergy, fidelity and patriotism of his successor, our much 
respected and venerated townsman, Chester A. Arthur," 
who, the Chamber was convinced, would "labor for the 
best interests of the countiy in administering the office of 
President of the United States," and to whom the Chamber 
pledged its sincere and ardent support. 

This deliverance, coming at a time when there was much 
apprehension in the public mind as to the course which Mr. 
Arthur would pursue, had an excellent effect. He himself 
was much gratified by it and sent word to the members that 
he had a deep sense of obligation to the Chamber for its 
prompt and cordial expression of confidence. The faith of 
the Chamber was fully justified by the new President's con- 
duct of the government during the three and a half years in 
which he held the office. When he retired on March 4, 
1885, the Chamber elected him an Honorary Member, and 
when he died in November of the following year, it paid 
warm tribute to his virtues in a minute prepared by his 
lifelong friend, Cornelius N. Bliss. After speaking of the 
high esteem in which Mr. Arthur had been held for many 
years by his fellow townsmen before he became President, it 
was said in the minute: "It was not strange that outside 
the State where his ability and character were less known, 
honest doubt and distrust of the future of the country, in the 
serious crisis, should weigh upon the hearts of the people. 



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98 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

He bore all calmly, in silence, with rare fortitude, confident 
in his own integrity of purpose, and but few then knew how 
deeply his sensitive nature was wounded by the injustice 
to which he was subjected. When he became President, his 
wise and conservative course soon dissipated doubt and fear, 
factional disputes were stilled, confidence was restored to the 
country, and his administration won the approbation of all 
men of both parties. So ends another great Ufe; and when 
the events of the years 1881 to 1885 shall be recorded in his- 
tory, the verdict will be, that during that period the destinies 
of the Republic were, under Providence, directed by a wise 
and sagacious ruler." 



I 



CHAPTER XXI 
WAR WITH SPAIN 

PROMPT SUPPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT — PANAMA CANAL TOLLS 
— ^VALUABLE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE FROM MR. CHOATE 

m 

1898-I9I4 

When the question of declaring war with Spain was pend- 
ing, in the spring of 1898, the Chamber did not hesitate as 
to its duty in the premises. At its regular monthly meeting 
on April 7 it adopted a preamble and resolution which were 
reported by its Executive Committee. In the preamble it 
was stated that the Chamber of Commerce *'will, as in the 
past, so in the future, never fail, when the Republic calls, to 
stand by the common cause in a spirit of patriotic devotion 
and self-sacrifice. It will also recognize as its own the inter- 
ests and the honor of the country." The resolution declared 
that "the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York 
most heartily applauds the pacific policy so wisely, patiently, 
and nobly pursued by President McKinley. It pledges to 
that policy its firm and active support, and it calls upon the 
representatives of the people to sustain and aid the President 
in his patriotic endeavor to secure justice to our suffering 
neighbors, while at the same time preserving the inestimable 
boon of peace to our own country." 

There was an animated debate on the question of adoption 
of the report, in which several members advocated a more 
emphatic utterance in favor of war if necessary, and others, 
including Carl Schurz, supported the resolution. A letter 
was received a few days later from President McKinley's 
secretary, conveying the President's "assurance of his cordial 

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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



appreciation of this expression of confidence and support, 
which is very encouraging to him." 

At its next following monthly meeting, on May s, the 
Chamber, war with Spain having been declared in the mean- 
time, met the situation squarely and unflinchmgly by adopt- 
ing a series of resolutions as follows: 

Resohedy That the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New 
York, mindful of its own loyal and patriotic past, hereby pledges 
its unqualified and hearty support to the President and Congress 
of the United States in the conduct of the war. 

Resolved, That the Chamber will willingly and heartily bear 
its share of the common burdens, whatever they may be, to the 
end that such a peace may speedily be obtained as will enure to 
the benefit of our Cuban neighbors, and to the domestic quiet 
and prosperity of the United States. 

Resolved, That a coromittee of thirty members, of which the 
President of the Chamber shall be chairman, shall be appointed 
to take such action, as may, from time to time, be necessary, in 
order to give to this action of the Chamber its greatest possible 

efficiency and value. 

Resolved, That the thanks and congratulations of the Chamber 
be offered to Commodore Dewey and the gallant officers and crews 
of the Asiatic squadron who, by one blow, struck imder circum- 
stances of peculiar heroism, have relieved our Pacific Coast from 
the fear of attack, freed our merchant ships in the East from dread 
of capture, and while adding new lustre to the briUiant annals of 
the American navy, have helped importantly to shorten the war. 

Speeches in support of the resolutions were made by the 
President of the Chamber and several members, including 
Abram S. Hewitt. The latter aroused great enthusiasm by 
saying: "The verdict of history wiU show that not only the 
President of the United States, but the Congress of the 
United States and the people of the United States have but 
one object in this great controversy, and that is to see that 
justice is done, even though the heavens fall." 

The resolutions were adopted unanimously. 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS loi 



At its first meeting after the cjose of the war, held on October 
6, 1898, the Chamber sent, with unanimous approval, a mes- 
sage to President McKinley, tendering to him its "earnest 
congratulations upon the successful termination of the war 
with Spain," complimenting him upon the "magnificent vic- 
tories achieved by the Army and Navy of the United States," 
and renewing the "assurance of its confidence in his wisdom, 
judgment and statesmanship in dealing with the difficult in- 
ternational problems yet to be solved." 

Immediately upon the raising of the question of exempting 
American coastwise ships from the payment of tolls in the 
Panama Canal, in 19 12, the Chamber gave serious attention 
to the subject and discussed it at length in several meetings. 
At the annual banquet of the Chamber on November 21, 191 2, 
Senator Root, in an earnest and eloquent speech, had called 
attention to the subject, saying that the United States could 
not refuse to arbitrate the question of whether or not the 
exemption was a violation of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty. In 
it he added that if the United States refused to arbitrate the 
question, "we will be in the position of the merchant who is 
known to all the world to be false to his promises. With 
our nearly four thousand millions of foreign trade we will 
stand in the world of commerce as a merchant false to his 
word. Among all the people on this earth who hope for 
better days of righteousness and peace in the future, we will 
stand, in the light of our multitude of declarations for arbitra- 
tion and peace, as discredited, dishonored hypocrites; with 
the fair name of America blackened, with the self-respect of 
Americans gone, with the influence of America for advance 
along the pathway of progress and civilization, annulled, dis- 
honored and disgraced. No true American can fail to use his 
voice and his influence upon this question for his country's 
honor." 

This speech, together with the full texts of the Hay-Paunce- 
fote treaty and of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty which it repealed, 



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were published in the monthly "Bulletin" of the Chamber 
in order that accurate information on the subject might be 
placed before the members. 

It was evident from the beginning of the debate that the 
sentiment of the Chamber was overwhelmingly against the 
exemption as embodied in the Canal Act that Congress had 
passed in 191 2. When, in January, 1913, Senator Root in- 
troduced a bill repeahng the exemption clause of the act, a 
resolution was introduced in the Chamber at its next follow- 
ing meeting, approving his action. This was debated at the 
subsequent meetings, at the second of which Mr. Joseph H. 
Choate, who had been the American Ambassador at London 
when the Hay-Pauncefote treaty in regard to the canal had 
been drawn, was present and made a speech which will always 
remain as a valuable contribution to the history of the case. 
It was the testimony of a man who had first-hand knowledge 
with which to support his statements, and was accepted as 
final by the Chamber, as it must be by all who wish to know 
the truth. The more vital passages of his speech are ap- 
pended: 

I come here to-day as a member of the Chamber of Commerce, 
hoping to help it to decide right in the matter that is now before 
it, because I consider a wrong decision would be not only a serious 
blow to the good name and honor of the Chamber of Commerce 
but of the country itself. 

It is true that I had something to do with the negotiation of this 
treaty. In the summer of 1901— you will remember that this 
treaty was ratified by the Senate in November, 1901— I was in 
England until October, and was in ahnost daily contact with Lord 
Pauncefote, who on his side represented Lord Lansdowne, the 
Foreign Secretary, and was also in very frequent correspondence 
with Mr. Hay, our Secretary of State, under whom I was acting. 
As the lips of both those diplomatists and great patriots, who 
were each true to his own country and each regardful of the rights 
of the other, are sealed in death, I think it is quite proper that I 
should say what I believe both of them, if they were here, would 
say to-day: that the clause in the Panama Canal Bill exempting 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 103 

coastwise American shipping from the pa3^ment of tolls is in direct 
violation of the treaty. 

I venture to say now that in the whole course of the negotiation 
of this particular treaty, no claim, no suggestion was made, that 
there should be any exemption of anybody. How could there be 
in face of the words they agreed upon ? Lord Pauncefote and John 
Hay were singularly honest and truthful men. They knew the 
meaning of the English language, and when they agreed upon the 
language of the treaty, they carried out the fundamental prin- 
ciple of their whole diplomacy, so far as I know anything about it, 
and in the six years I was engaged with them, their cardinal rule 
was to mean what they said and to say what they meant. 

When the question of approving Senator Root's repeal bill 
was put at the close of the debate, at a very full attendance 
of members, there were only seven votes in the negative. A 
message was sent to Senator Root informing him of the Cham- 
ber's action, to which he replied expressing his pleasure in 
knowing that the Chamber was on the right side of the ques- 
tion. 

On March 5, 19 14, President Wilson read his special mes- 
sage before a joint session of the two houses of Congress in 
which he asked for repeal of the exemption clauses on the 
groimd that in his "judgment, very fully considered and ma- 
turely formed, that exemption constitutes a mistaken eco- 
nomic policy from every point of view, and is, moreover, in 
plain contradiction of the treaty with Great Britain." The 
Chamber at once came to the support of the President, and, 
by request from Washington, sent a special committee to that 
city to appear before the Senate Committee on Interoceanic 
Canals and present the Chamber's attitude in the matter. 
The Senate Committee gave the Chamber's representatives a 
full and exhaustive hearing, at which the action of the Cham- 
ber in 191 2 was presented in detail, and the economic side 
of the question in its relations to transportation by both 
water and rail was fully discussed. 

There is no doubt that the arguments of the Chamber's 



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104 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

representatives had much influence in securing the final 
passage of the repeal bill which became law on June 15, 1914. 
President Wilson recognized the value of the service rendered 
by sending a letter to the Chamber in which he begged it to 
accept his assurance that he appreciated its action in support- 
ing his position on the question. 



CHAPTER XXII 



RAPID-TRANSIT SOLUTION 

RECORD OF THE CHAMBER — THIRTEEN YEARS OF LEADERSHIP 
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SUBWAYS 

1894-1907 

No public service performed by the Chamber during its 
century and a half of usefulness ranks above its achievement 
in solving the problem of rapid transit. 

As early as 1868 the question of an underground system of 
transit began to engage serious attention and during the 
ensuing quarter of a century repeated ejGForts to evolve a satis- 
factory system were made, all of which, for one reason or an- 
other, ended in failure. A charter was granted by the Legis- 
lature in 1868 to the New York City Central Underground 
Company for the construction of a subway, but it proved to 
be impossible to raise the necessary capital. In 1872, the 
Legislature incorporated the New York City Rapid Transit 
Company, authorizing the New York Central Railroad Com- 
pany to construct an underground road from the Grand Cen- 
tral Station to the City Hall. Criticism of this plan was so 
bitter that it was abandoned. In 1875, an act was passed 
under which the elevated railway system was constructed. 
This system satisfied public needs for about ten years, when 
the necessity for additional facilities revived the demand for 
an underground road. Mayor Hewitt took up the question 
in 1888, and endeavored, unsuccessfully, to induce the Legis- 
lature to pass an act for such a road. In 1891, the Legisla- 
ture, yielding to a strong popular demand, passed an act 
under which a Rapid Transit Commission was appointed. 

This body evolved a system which could not be constructed 

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io6 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

because of the lack of responsible bidders for the contract. 
In 1894 the Chamber of Commerce took up the subject. 

If anything had been demonstrated conclusively by pre- 
vious efforts, it was that private capital could not be induced 
to imdertake the work. The Chamber, in the light of experi- 
ence, looked about for other methods of raising money, and 
could find only one, that of the city credit. There had been 
public talk of municipal ownership combined with municipal 
operation. The Chamber adopted the idea of confining mu- 
nicipal participation to the furnishing of credit for construc- 
tion, leaving to private interests the risks and burden as well 
as the profit of constructing, equipping, and operating the 
system. That separation proved to be the key to the rapid- 
transit problem, and the discovery was a public service of 
incalculable value, not only to New York, but to all other 
mimidpalities in the land. 

Credit for this discovery belongs to Mr. Hewitt. It was 
entirely his idea, Mr. Orr said in a speech at the annual 
banquet in 1904, that municipal credit should be a dominant 
feature of the enterprise. "That, to my mind, and, I believe 
to the minds of our colleagues of the Rapid Transit Com- 
mission," he added, "made our work a success." 

Under the experienced guidance of Mr. Hewitt, who had 
for many years been a zealous advocate of subway construc- 
tion, and with the expert legal advice of Henry R. Beekman, 
afterward an upright, able, and honored judge of the Supreme 
Court, a bill was drawn and presented to the Legislature in 
which for the first time the proposal to use the credit of the 
city was made. The Legislature, naturally timid in the face 
of so imprecedented a departure, passed the bill but attached 
a proviso that before going into effect it must first be approved 
by the people of the State. A referendum on the question 
was submitted in the election of November, 1894, and approval 
was given with a large majority. The way was thus cleared 
for the new idea in rapid transit to be put into operation. 




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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 107 

The act as passed named the persons who were to consti- 
tute the Rapid Transit Commission. They were the Mayor 
and Comptroller of the city; the President of the Chamber of 
Commerce; William Steinway, Seth Low, John Claflin, 
Alexander E. Orr, and John H. Starin. Five of the eight com- 
missioners were members of the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. 
Orr was President of the Chamber, and consequently an ex 
officio and an individual member. At the first meeting of the 
commission, he was elected its President. He resigned his 
individual membership and John H. Inman was elected to the 
vacancy, giving the Chamber six members of the body. 

From the moment of its appointment, the commission bent 
its energies continuously and tirelessly to the great task as- 
signed to it. Necessary amendments were obtained from time 
to time enlarging its powers. Changes in its personnel from 
death and other causes were made as time advanced. Mr. 
Low resigned in 1896, and Mr. Steinway and Mr. Liman died. 
Their places were filled by Woodbury Langdon, George L. 
Rives, and Charles Stewart Smith. In 1899, Morris K. 
Jesup became President of the Chamber of Commerce and 
thereby replaced Mr. Orr as ex officio member of the com- 
mission. At the first meeting of the commission thereafter, 
John Claflin resigned and Mr. Orr was elected to the vacancy, 
continuing as President of the commission. 

The commission, as soon as it had been appointed, organ- 
ized and chose William Barclay Parsons as chief engineer and 
George S. Rice as deputy chief engineer. A route for the 
subway was laid out after taking into consideration the con- 
venience of the population, the situation of existing lines of 
transportation, and the development of the city. Plans for 
the structure were determined upon, a financial scheme was 
evolved, necessary legal authority was secured from the 
courts, and the construction of an operating plant was author- 
ized. 

A delay of two years was caused in the actual beginning of 



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io8 Oi^JS HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

the work by an action brought in the Supreme Court to test 
the constitutionality of the Act of 1894 creating the com- 
mission. This was carried to the Court of Appeals and 
declared finally in favor of the dty. 

Obstacles and delays of various kinds arose constantly, 
but the patience and perseverance of the commission enabled 
it to surmount them all, and in the faU of 1899 a contract for 
the work was completed and was advertised for bids. On 
January 16, 1900, a bid was accepted, and a Rapid Transit 
Subway Construction Company was organized to capitalize 
the work. On March 24 foUowing the work was formally 
begun, and four and a half years later, on October 27, 1904, 
the subway, fully equipped in every part and ready for opera- 
tion, was thrown open to the public with impressive cere- 
monies. Every detail of the work, construction, equipment 
of stations and rolling-stock, motive-power, etc., was con- 
sidered and determined by the commission, and after ten 
years of unremitting and devoted labor, its members presented 
the city with as perfect a system of transportation as the world 
had yet seen. 

While the commission had been engaged in this task, the 
Greater New York Charter had gone into effect, creating a 
new city with a greatly increased population and with new 
and diversified interests. This enlargement of its field of 
labor had added enormously to the work of the commission 
by imposing upon its members the task of evolving a system 
of transit that should meet the wants of all the new territory 
that had been added to the old. This was done so effectively 
that the way was opened for whatever enlargements and ex- 
tensions in the future the growth of the metropolis might 
make necessary. 

During the closing years of service the commission made 
careful examination of the merits of proposed additional routes 
and decided upon so many that when, in 1907, it was aboHshed 
and its work turned over to the Public Service Commission 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 109 

there was little for the latter body to do except to carry for- 
ward the general scheme which its predecessor had planned 
and partially executed. That Mr. Hewitt and Mr. Orr, as 
well as their associates, were men of vision, as well as devoted 
public servants, was demonstrated by the success of their 
ideas and plans. 



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CHAPTER XXIII 
RAPID TRANSIT— CONTINUED 

RECOGNITION OF MR. HEWITT'S SERVICES— GOLD MEDAL 

AWARDED AND STATUE ERECTED TO HIS MEMORY — 

MEDALS ALSO FOR MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION 

I 894- I 907 

The Chamber was generous in its appreciation of Mr. 
Hewitt's services. When the contract for building the sub- 
way was signed, in April, 1900, Mr. Orr reported the fact 
at a meeting of the Chamber and proposed that a gold 
medal be struck in recognition of Mr. Hewitt's eminent ser- 
vices, saying that the result was due mainly to the active in- 
fluence of the Chamber and the "genius and foresight of 
Abram S. Hewitt who had brought to the task a wide experi- 
ence in civic affairs and an intimate knowledge of the require- 
ments of the case." A resolution was adopted, appointing a 
special committee to procure a gold medal to be presented 
to Mr. Hewitt ''with assurances of the admiration, respect 
and affectionate regard of his fellow members." A medal 
was struck and was formally presented to Mr. Hewitt at a 
meeting of the Chamber on October 3, 1901- In his speech 
of acceptance Mr. Hewitt reviewed the long campaign for an 
underground system, and remarked that in achieving this 
result the Chamber of Commerce had been the prime mover, 
adding: "I think it is not too much to say that in the future 
its successful intervention will be regarded as one of the most 
creditable achievements in its long and honorable history, 
identified, as it was and is, with the construction of the Erie 
Canal and of the great system of water-supply which has made 

no 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS in 

it possible for more than three millions of people to dwell 
together in health and comfort." 

Of the medal he said: "It will be treasured by my children 
as the most precious possession which will descend to them, 
and be regarded by them, as it is by me, as the crowning honor 
of a long career, which, by the action of the Chamber of 
Conmierce, is now brought to a happy ending." 

Fifteen months later, when Mr. Hewitt's life ended, the 
Chamber, feeling that sufficient honor had not yet been paid 
to him, directed that a marble statue be made of him and 
placed in a niche on the grand stairway leading to the great 
hall of the Chamber in its building. This was done, and on 
May II, 1905, the statue was unveiled with impressive cere- 
monies in the presence of his widow and children. It was 
the first time in its long history that such an honor had been 
paid by the Chamber to one of its members. 

On January 7, 1904, the Chamber devoted itself to an ex- 
pression of appreciation of the services of its members on the 
Board of Rapid Transit Commissioners. A resolution was 
adopted unanimously, appointing a conmiittee to consider 
and report on the question of suitable recognition. The com- 
mittee reported in March and again in November. They 
called attention in their first report to this inscription on a 
tablet in the City Hall station of the first subway: 



SUGGESTED BY THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 
AUTHORIZED BY THE STATE 
CONSTRUCTED BY THE CITY 



While approving the inscription, the committee expressed 
the opinion that it did not adequately set forth the service 
the Chamber had rendered. In its second report the com- 
mittee recommended that medals, similar to the one awarded 
to Mr. Hewitt, be presented to the members of the Cham- 
ber who had served on the Rapid Transit Commission. The 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



recommendation was adopted, and at a meeting on December 
7, they were presented by the President to the seven members 
who had been on the commission. In their report, the special 
committee said that the great community was to be congratu- 
lated in an especial manner upon the fact that the best virtue 
and the best intelligence of its citizenship had been enhsted 
in the enterprise. 

In a brief speech, thanking the Chamber for its action, Mr. 
Orr said that it had been both a pride and pleasure to the 
members of the commission to know that the very first move 
toward real and effective rapid transit under municipal credit 
had been made by the Chamber, and it was for this reason that 
when designing the tablet to commemorate the building of 
-the first rapid-transit road in New York the commission de- 
creed that the very first line of the inscription should read: 
"Suggested by the Chamber of Conmierce of the State of 
New York." 

One of the members of the Chamber, in some remarks eulo- 
gistic of the work accomplished, made the important point 
that great as the achievement had been, the Chamber had done 
even more than create a work of public utility of far-reaching 
consequences. It had shown how a great public work, of in- 
calculable value to the city of New York for all time to come, 
could be conceived, organized, and carried out, freed from 
those political entanglements which so often proved a source 
of waste, extravagance, or scandal. 

In its report the special committee also recommended that 
a description and historical memoir of the enterprise be pre- 
pared and printed. This was done, and it was pubKshed in 
1905, with the title of "Rapid Transit, Chamber of Commerce 
of the State of New York." It is an extremely valuable pub- 
lication, contaming, in addition to a complete history of the 
various rapid-transit plans and of the work done by the Cham- 
ber's successful board, an account of similar enterprises in 
other American and foreign cities. Students of municipal 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 113 

transit questions will find it an invaluable book of reference, 
containing in detail information which, from the necessity of 
the case, can only be summarized in this general history of the 
Chamber. 



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CHAPTER XXIV 



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SOUND-MONEY RECORD 

UNBROKEN FOR ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS — ^DEMANDS 
FOR RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS — OPPOSITION 

TO FREE SILVER 

I 768-1 918 

In the earlier chapters of this chronicle it has been pointed 
out that almost from the moment of its creation the Cham- 
ber took an rniquahfied and strong position in favor of a 
sound and stable currency. It did this in reference to colo- 
nial paper currency and later in reference to depreciated and 
adulterated coin. In recent times it has maintained this 
attitude unwaveringly. 

When the question of the resumption of specie payments 
began to be discussed in 1869 the Chamber put itself on rec- 
ord in favor of resumption at the earliest practical moment, 
declaring its conviction that the public debt should be paid 
in gold, and that contraction of the currency must precede 
resumption. It adhered to this position steadily for ten years. 
When resumption became an accomplished fact on January 
I, 1879, the Chamber passed resolutions felicitating the city 
and country upon the "consummation of an event which has 
been so long and ardently desired," and later appointed a 
committee to ask the Secretary of the Treasury, John Sher- 
man, to sit for a portrait which should be hung upon the walls 
of the Chamber in honor of his great services. The Secretary 
consented, his portrait was painted and hangs to-day in the 
Great Hall of the society facmg that of Alexander Hamilton. 

Early in 1872, when the bill relating to the coinage of silver 

which had been before Congress since the beginning of 1870 

114 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 115 

was under discussion in that body, the Chamber, on May 6, 
adopted unanimously a series of resolutions saying it per- 
ceived "with great satisfaction that the pending bill provides 
that the gold dollar shall be 'the unit of value,' and that the 
silver dollar shall hereafter be a legal tender only for amounts 
not exceeding $5, thereby putting an end, in the United States, 
to the absurdity of a * double standard' for legal money, and 
establishing gold as the single and only standard." Copies 
of the resolutions were sent to members of both houses of 
Congress, and from that time till the final passage of the act, 
on February 7, 1873, the Chamber, through its special com- 
mittee on the subject, of which Samuel B. Ruggles was chair- 
man, continued to urge its passage and to make suggestions in 
regard to its provisions, many of which were incorporated in 
the measure. This act was known afterward as the "Crime 
of '73," that being the title which advocates of free-silver 
coinage and bimetallism gave to it. That it exercised a 
powerful influence in keeping the country on the gold standard, 
all efforts to repeal it ending in failure, is universally admitted. 
The Chamber in upholding it from the outset not only ad- 
hered to its invariable policy in support of sound finance but 
performed a valuable service to the country. 

The Chamber continued its opposition to free silver in all 
and every one of the various forms in which it appeared dur- 
ing the years which followed the resumption of specie pay- 
ments. When, in spite of its earnest and repeated protests, 
the so-called "Sherman Act," authorizing the purchase of 
four million five hundred thousand ounces of silver monthly, 
was passed in 1890, the Chamber did not falter in its position. 
In October, 1891, when the evil influences of the act began to 
be apparent, it passed a resolution declaring that "in the 
opinion of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New 
York, so much of the existing law as compels the purchase 
by the Government of 4,500,000 ounces of silver per month 
is against public welfare and should be repealed." In April 






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ii6 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

of the following year the Chamber adopted an elaborate 
report by its special committee on the subject with resolutions 
in which it was declared that "all existing legislation which 
requires the Secretary of the Treasury to purchase silver bul- 
lion should be repealed." 

Repeatedly in 1892 and the early part of 1893 the Chamber 
called earnest attention to the harm which the Sherman 
silver-purchase act was doing to the financial and commercial 
interests of the country and urged its repeal. In June the 
panic of 1893, one of the most serious in the financial history 
of the country, came as the inevitable result of the silver 
policy. Banks failed in all parts of the country, there were 
runs on savings-banks, and appeals for help reached the finan- 
cial institutions of New York from all quarters. The Clear- 
ing House Loan Conunittee, composed of five metropolitan 
bank presidents, all members of the Chamber, saved the 
situation, and averted financial ruin and devastation through- 
out the land by issuing more than forty-one million dollars in 

loan certificates. 

The Chamber besought President Cleveland to call a special 
session of Congress to consider the question of repealing the 
Sherman Act, and this he did on August 7, 1893. The House 
passed a repeal bill promptly, but action was delayed in the 
Senate for a long time. Pending action, the Chamber bent 
its energies to arousing popular sentiment in favor of the 
repeal biU's passage. Through a special committee appeals 
were made to over five thousand banks and trust companies 
and commercial associations, and thirty thousand letters 
were sent to private firms and individuals urging them to use 
their influence in securing action by the Senate in favor of 
repeal. Finally, the Senate passed the bill and on November 
I it became law. In winning this victory for sound money 
the Chamber had taken a very important part, and the final 
triumph was due in large measure to its successful efforts in 
arousing popular sentiment in favor of repeal. 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 117 

In November, 1895, President Cleveland recognized hand- 
somely the services of the Chamber in the fight for sound 
money. The society invited him to be an honored guest 
at its annual dinner, and in a letter of regret that he was not 
able to accept, he wrote: "There never was a time when my 
admiration for this important business association was so 
great, and I am sure the recent efforts of its members to save 
the country from the havoc of financial madness ought to be 
appreciated by every patriotic citizen." 

When in 1896 the steadily growing agitation in favor of 
the free coinage of silver cuhninated in the nomination by 
the Democratic Convention of its leading advocate, the 
Chamber had no doubt as to its duty in the campaign. It 
realized at once that an issue had been raised that was above 
political and partisan considerations and involved both the 
national welfare and the national honor. Foreseeing the 
coming conflict as early as May, 1895, it had appointed a 
special committee to devise methods for opposing free coin- 
age and maintaining the standard of value. As soon as the 
free-silver nomination was made this committee began the 
preparation of a plan of campaign, appointing from their 
members an Executive Committee, a Finance Committee, 
with several subcommittees, and securing offices in which to 
conduct the work. They opened correspondence with kindred 
organizations throughout the country, sought and obtained 
the co-operation and assistance of large commercial houses, 
and thus established wide connections with business interests 
in all parts of the land. They then began the printing and 
distribution of large quantities of sound-money literature, 
speeches, pamphlets, and other publications, reaching with 
them, by means of correspondence and through the press, 
several millions of people, chiefly in the South and West, 
regularly during the campaign. They did not depend upon 
the political organizations for distribution, but reached the 
individual voter directly through the press and the avenues 



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ii8 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

of business correspondence. It is scarcely possible to over- 
estimate the value of the missionary and educational work 
thus accomplished. It could justly be claimed that these 
services in that campaign, one of the most critical in our 
history, exerted a powerful influence in winning the result- 
ing victory. 

Throughout his career as President, Mr. Cleveland and the 
Chamber worked shoulder to shoulder in the fight for sound 
money, and their relations were mutually cordial and friendly. 
When Mr. Cleveland's second term had ended in 1897, Presi- 
dent Orr, in behalf of the Chamber, wrote to him saying that 
it was the "earnest wish of very many of its members to 
demonstrate its high appreciation of the benefits conferred 
upon the commercial interests of this country, both at home 
and abroad, by the honorable and uncompromisingly honest 
financial policy" which he had advocated and insured through- 
out his entire admmistration, and asking him to accept a 
banquet in order that opportunity might be given to publicly 
recognize his valuable financial services and to express the 
Chamber's gratitude and thanks. Mr. Cleveland's reply is 
so thoroughly characteristic in its frankness and in its revela- 
tions of his high ideals of public service, that it is here pre- 
sented in full: 

Executive Mansion, 
Washington, February 10, 1897. 

My Dear Mr. Orr: I have just received your letter of yes- 

terday. ^.- 

In reply, I desire, first of aU, to express my supreme gratifica- 
tion that the members of the Chamber of Commerce desire to 
tender, in such a marked manner, their approbation of my official 
course. The mere fact of their entertaining such a suggestion con- 
stitutes a most valued reward for faithful endeavor to perform 

official duty. . . r 1 

I hope you will, however, permit me to say m entire frankness 
and sincerity, that the assurance of the approbation of my good 
friends of the Chamber of Commerce affords me as complete 



I 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 119 

satisfaction and comfort as any other demonstration of it could do. 
Besides, all that I have done or attempted to do, in the direction 
of the general welfare, deserves no special manifestation of approval 
such as you suggest, since all this is within the scope of the service 
I owe my fellow countrymen who have trusted me. 

These considerations lead me to the suggestion that I would 
be better pleased if the projects you outline were relinquished. 

With assurances of grateful appreciation, I am, 

Yours sincerely, 

(Signed) Grover Cleveland. 

When in 1900 the free coinage of silver was again the lead- 
ing issue in the national campaign, the Chamber took the 
same position that it had held four years earlier, and exerted 
its influence on the side of sound money. On the eve of 
election in November it sent out a formal appeal through the 
various commercial bodies of the country which closed with 
the declaration that "The Chamber of Commerce of the State 
of New York, reahzmg the peril of this agitation, the sinister 
character of credit when attacked, and knowing that the gold 
standard is the only standard upon which permanent pros- 
perity can rest, believe now that the time has again come for 
commercial bodies and all men, whether engaged in farming, 
manufacture or trade, to unite in removing from pohtical 
agitation once and forever the question of the standard of 
value upon which all the business of this country is transacted. 
The question has arisen above and beyond all parties and 
creeds, and now involves the honor of the nation and the in- 
tegrity of the individual." 



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CHAPTER XXV 
COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION 

HISTORY OF THE CHAMBER'S EXPERIENCE FROM EARLIEST 

TIMES — SUCCESS OF THE SYSTEM 

I768-I918 

A CENTURY and a half ago, at the very beginning of its ex- 
istence, the Chamber established the principle of voluntary 
commercial arbitration and has adhered to it, with honor to 
itself and great usefulness to the world ever since. Its rec- 
ord in the matter is so creditable that it deserves to be 
traced in full, for it is both instructive and interesting. 

At the second meeting of the Chamber on May 3, 1768, a 
committee of seven members was appointed for "adjusting 
any differences between parties agreeing to leave such dis- 
putes to this Chamber." A new and differently constituted 
committee was appointed at each meeting. On April 4, 1769, 
it was ordered that the names of persons having the dis- 
putes, with the sums awarded, should be entered on the min- 
utes, and in May following this was modified by the proviso 
that it should be done unless both parties to a dispute objected 
to it. In June the records of three disputes, with names and 
awards, were inscribed in the minutes but no subsequent entry 
of the kind was made. There was evidently much objection 
to the proceeding, for in June the Committee of Arbitration 
was instructed merely to report in writing to the Chamber 
"what business hath or shall come before them during their 
appointment." 

It was not known till many years later that there was in ex- 
istence any records of these early arbitrations, but in 19 13 an 
original manuscript volume was found in the manuscript- 

120 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 121 



room of the Public Library, it having been purchased some 
time previously from a collector. In this volume were the 
records of arbitration cases from July 6, 1779, when the 
Chamber became a Royalist body, to November i, 1792, nine 
years after the close of the Revolutionary War. Copies of 
these records were published in a neat volume by the Cham- 
ber of Commerce in 19 13. As was said in the preface of that 
volume: 

This was a great historic time in the development of New York, 
and the minutes constitute a historical document of high value, 
giving as they do an intimate view of the commercial life of New 
York in the later years of the eighteenth century, including the 
Revolutionary War, when this city was a centre of stirring events. 
Although containing about 50,000 inhabitants, New York was 
already, by reason of her spacious harbor, an active shipping port, 
and her leading merchants were owners of ships that traded in 
many parts of the world. Most of the disputes which are recorded 
in these minutes were differences over ships, and many of them ap- 
plied to the terms of employment over masters and men. The 
cases tried were often submitted to the Chamber by the police 
authorities of the city. Many of the names recorded in the min- 
utes are those of men prominent in the colonial period of New 
York, some of them being founders of families and fortunes exist- 
ing to-day. 

In February, 1770, an effort was made for compulsory 
arbitration in a motion that it be the standing rule of the 
Chamber that members should never refuse to submit all 
disputed matters of accoimts that they might be concerned 
in with each other, or any other persons whomsoever, to the 
final arbitrament and determination of the Chamber collec- 
tively, or to such of the members as might be chosen by the 
parties, on pain of being expelled from the Chamber and dis- 
qualified from b6ing ever again admitted a member of it. 
This motion, which was made by Isaac Low, one of the 
founders, was never brought to a vote. It was called up 
once afterward and referred to a future meeting for con- 



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122 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

sideration, and was not heard of again. Similar proposal was 
made in 1787, and in a revision of the by-laws which was 
adopted on September 18 of that year, it was decreed that 
any member refusing to submit to arbitration either of the 
monthly committee or of such of the members as may be 
chosen by the parties, or of the corporation coUectively, 
should be expeUed. An effort was made to rescind this de- 
cree but failed. 

An interesting light is thrown upon the manner in which 
this decree worked in practice by a minute in the proceedings 
of the Chamber forty years later, on January 6, 1829. A com- 
mittee had been appointed to consider a motion to so amend 
the resolution of September 18, 1787, as to limit compulsory 
arbitration to disputes in which the amount involved did 
not exceed one hundred dollars. In its report the committee 
said that its members cordially approved the proposed amend- 
ment, yet, as in practice the resolution of 1787 had been ob- 
solete for a long time, in their opinion it would be inexpedient 
now to revive any resolution or other regulation which would 
compel the members upon pain of expulsion to submit their 
disputes to the decision of the Chamber or to any committee 
of the same. The report was adopted, and compulsory arbi- 
tration was allowed to sleep the sleep of the obsolete undis- 
turbed. 

An effort in the direction of publicity was made in April, 
1817, when it was decreed that the names of persons having 
disputes before the arbitration committee should be published 
in the newspapers, but no publication of the kind can be found. 
Five years later, in 1822, when monthly meetings of the 
Chamber had been superseded by bimonthly ones, it was 
decided to replace the monthly arbitration committee with a 
standing committee of arbitration, consistmg of five mem- 
bers, one of whom should be a Vice-President of the Chamber 
and act as chairman, the other four to be elected by ballot at 
the annual meeting. The first standing committee was elected 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 123 

on May 22. In April, 1840, a further and more radical change 
was made. The standing committee was renamed "Com- 
mittee of Arbitration," was to consist of five members, one 
to serve as chairman for a period of one year and to be elected 
by ballot at the annual meeting; four others to be elected by 
ballot at monthly meetings, one retiring each month and a 
successor elected; neither the Chairman nor any member to 
be eligible for a new term till after the lapse of a year. A 
new standing committee, called "Committee of Appeals,'* 
was constituted to which appeals might be made from decisions 
by the Committee of Arbitration. This committee was to 
consist of the President, first and second Vice-Presidents, 
Treasurer, and Chairman of the Committee of Arbitration. 
No appeal could be made from a decision of the Committee 
of Arbitration in which the amount involved did not exceed 
one hundred dollars, and notice of intention to appeal must 
be given within ten days. 

The first refusal to abide by a decision of the Committee 
of Arbitration which appears in the minutes occurred in Sep- 
tember, 1844. The person against whom an award had been 
decreed refused to pay it on the ground that the committee 
had exceeded its authority in summoning and examining wit- 
nesses. The Committee of Appeals declined to hear the case 
and referred it to the Chamber for action. The Chamber, 
after long delay, in April, 1849, amended the by-laws, author- 
izing the Committee of Arbitration to hear witnesses, each 
party to the dispute to pay such fees as the committee might 
deem reasonable. 

Both the Arbitration Committee and the Committee of 
Appeals were employed frequently and in the main gave satis- 
faction. The weak points in the system were that parties 
withdrew after arbitration had begun and before an award 
had been made, and that no method existed for enforcing 
awards. 

In 1 86 1 the State Legislature passed an act tmder which 



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124 OiV£ HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

the decisions of the Committee of Arbitration could be made 
the basis of a judgment in a Court of Record. The plan 
authorized by this act was followed by the Chamber for 
twelve years and proved to be the most satisfactory so far 
tried. In 1874 the Legislature passed an act creating a 
Court of Arbitration. This was amended in 1875 by con- 
ferring additional powers. Under it the Governor appointed 
an official arbitrator and an arbitration clerk. This plan, 
under which Judge Enoch L. Fancher was appointed official 
arbitrator and the Secretary of the Chamber was appomted 
arbitration clerk, was in operation till 1879, when it was sus- 
pended indefinitely through failure of the Legislature to make 
an appropriation for its support. It was unpopular because 
it endeavored to cover and dispose of in court fashion every 
kind of commercial dispute, and gave to the merchants of 
New York a court whose creation was declared to be class 
legislation. 

For several years after the suspension of this plan very 
little attention was paid to the question of arbitration by the 
Chamber. In March, 1910, a special committee was ap- 
pointed to consider the need of re-establishing a Court or Com- 
mittee of Arbitration, and, if such need existed, to report a 
plan. This committee made a report in January, 191 1, in 
which it presented a plan of arbitration that was adopted and 
has since been in successful operation. In its report the com- 
mittee expressed the opinion that "dependence on the Legis- 
lature for support, in the effort to make the award a binding 
one, is the rock on which most arbitration plans of this Cham- 
ber have come to grief. The enforcement of the award is 
recognized by your Conamittee as of great importance, but 
after consideration it believes that to rest the entire plan 
upon this phase of it is equivalent to sacrificing the whole to 
save a part." 

Summed up briefly, the plan proposed a Committee of 
Arbitration, chosen by the Chamber, to which any matter in 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 125 

controversy could be referred by disputants who should choose 
voluntarily to appeal to it for decision and who should sign 
an agreement, provided by the coramittee, not to withdraw 
from the arbitration after it had been begun, and to abide by 
the decision. The committee was required to compile and 
revise from time to time a list of not less than fifty qualified 
persons, members of the Chamber, who were willing to act 
as arbitrators under the rules. Disputants could select an 
arbitrator or arbitrators, from the committee or from the list 
of fifty, or submit their case to the full committee. The com- 
mittee had power to make its own rules and regulations and 
to fix a schedule of moderate fees to be paid by the disputants. 
The Secretary of the Chamber was to be the clerk of the 
committee. The committee and other arbitrators were re- 
quired to take the usual oath of office. 

From the outset the committee demonstrated that it met a 
general desire for the kind of adjudication which it offered. 
During its first year it disposed of, either through the com- 
mittee itself or through arbitrators chosen from the Chamber's 
list, a large number of important disputes, includiag one be- 
tween the Public Service Commission and subway contractors. 
In every instance, there was a speedy trial and quick decision, 
and every decision was accepted by both parties and a settie- 
ment made. In addition to disputes arbitrated, nearly one 
hundred others were settled by the committee through con- 
ciliatory mediation. This experience has been repeated in 
varying degrees in the six subsequent years. The variety of 
disputes covers a very wide field and has involved amounts 
varying from sixty-nine cents to two million eight himdred 
thousand dollars. All have been settled with privacy, ex- 
cept in a very few instances when publicity was not objected 
to by the disputants, and with despatch and economy. In 
only one instance did a disputant attempt to withdraw be- 
fore a decision was rendered, and he was easily convinced of 
the unwisdom of such a course. 



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126 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

The secret of the success of the system lies in the fact that 
the character of the Chamber is the foundation upon which 
it rests. This was recognized by the committee in its report 
of May 4, 1916, in which it said that "one of the most gratify- 
ing experiences which your committee has had in meeting men 
coming to us with their problems is the exhibition of com- 
plete confidence in the Chamber's even-handed and imbiased 
attitude." 

By far the larger part of the committee's effectiveness con- 
sists in settling cases without formal arbitration, or by con- 
ciliatory mediation, usually by getting the disputants to- 
gether for a frank conference. Of these cases the committee 
reported in 191 7 that while there was in the settlement noth- 
ing binding but a gentleman's word of honor, it had yet to 
hear of a case in which the agreement had not been scrupu- 
lously observed. "Your Committee is convinced that the 
friendly intervention of our Chamber acts as an almost irre- 
sistible moral force." 

Applications for arbitration are not confined to New York 
City, nor, indeed, to the country, but come from various 
foreign lands as well. The reputation of the Chamber's 
system has extended to all parts of the United States and to 
South America and Europe, and there are constant inquiries 
for information about its methods and for advice in the es- 
tablishment of like systems elsewhere. Through its influ- 
ence similar tribunals have been established in several 
Western and Southern States, and an Arbitration Committee 
was created in the New York State Bar Association, with 
which the Arbitration Committee of the Chamber held 
conferences and subsequently issued a joint report entitled 
'^ Rules for the Prevention of Unnecessary Litigation " that 
was published in pamphlet form and very widely circulated. 
It also entered into correspondence with European Chambers 
of Commerce and other organizations in the interest of in- 
ternational arbitration and has outlined a plan for such a 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 127 

system. In its report for 191 7 the committee expressed the 
opinion that there was developing among business men a 
conviction that an honorable and manly policy to pursue 
in commercial controversies was to endeavor to adjust them 
without resort to the courts; and, even in cases where re- 
course to the courts was necessary, to proceed in a friendly 
spirit and with a desire to preserve good- will and sound com- 
mercial relations. 






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CHAPTER XXVI 
THE ATLANTIC CABLE 

SUPPORT OF THE PROJECT BY THE CHAMBER — RECOGNITION OP 

CYRUS W. field's SERVICES 

1858-1895 

The Chamber has, with excellent reason, always regarded 
the first Atlantic cable as an enterprise in which it took a 
leading and valuable part. Peter Cooper and Cyrus W. Field, 
its chief projectors, were members of the Chamber, and they 
secured its hearty co-operation in the work. When the cable 
was laid in 1858, a special meeting was called on April 21, to 
"adopt some suitable measures of respect to be paid to Cap- 
tain Hudson and the officers of the Niagara, together with 
Cyrus W. Field and others, connected with the laying of the 
Atlantic Telegraph Cable." Mr. A. A. Low introduced a 
series of resolutions in a brief speech which expressed the fer- 
vid enthusiasm that the successful laying of the cable had 
aroused. 

The resolutions which were adopted declared that the 

achievement, as the great event of the age, reflected honor 

on its projectors; united two continents by a new bond of 

imion; brought two kindred nations into nearer alliance; 

would aid Christianity's best development by making peace 

and concord the common interest of all nations; and, because 

of the care, toil, and deep anxiety involved in the effort and 

of its final triumph, the Chamber would accord its meed of 

honor to Captain Hudson and his fellow officers, and to Mr. 

Field, "who has been the means of bringing into successful 

combination the money of the capitalist, the service and skill 

of the electrician, and the indomitable perseverance of the 

128 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 129 

sailor." A committee was appointed to consider and report 
upon proper testimonials to Captain Hudson and his fellow 
officers of the cable-laying ship, and the captain, with Mr. 
Field, Mr. Caleb Bristow, Mr. Underwood, Mr. Everett, and 
Mr. Woodhouse were elected honorary members of the 
Chamber. The committee decided upon gold medals for the 
persons engaged in laying the cable and these were presented 
in August, 1859. 

When the first cable broke a short time later, the Chamber 
urged its reconstruction and greatly aided in having a second 
and a third and permanently successful one laid in 1866. 
When the triumph was finally secured the Chamber gave a 
dinner in honor of Mr. Field. After his death in 1892, the 
Chamber, believing that sufficient recognition had not been 
given to his great achievement, requested its Executive Com- 
mittee to suggest an appropriate memorial. The committee 
reported that knowing the desire of Mr. Field for a historical 
painting in which the lineaments and figures of the projectors 
should appear, they had arranged with Daniel Huntington to 
execute the work. 

The painting was completed in 1895, and in May of that 
year, at a special meeting on the 23d, it was formally pre- 
sented to the Chamber by Morris K. Jesup, chairman 
of the special committee. In presenting it Mr. Jesup read 
an interesting letter from Mr. Himtington in which he said 
that the first thought of a picture representing the projectors 
of the Atlantic Telegraph came from Mr. Field, who had 
called at his studio soon after the final and complete success 
of the cable of 1866, and consulted him about painting such a 
group. He went with Mr. Field to his house on Gramercy 
Park, and sent a message to Mr. Peter Cooper, who came 
and took the chair, as he had been accustomed to preside. 
Mr. Field stood by the table, with charts and globes at 
hand, as he usually stood when explaining his plans and Mr. 
Huntington made sketches for the proposed picture. 



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130 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

A letter was also read from Justice Stephen J. Field, of the 
Supreme Court of the United States, a brother of Cyrus, in 
which he expressed regret at his inability to be present and 
said of his brother's labors that the "mere conception was 
ahnost a Divine inspiration, but to carry it into execution was 
the work of twelve laborious years— years interrupted by de- 
feats and disappointments that would have broken down the 
courage of most men." 

A formal address was made by Chauncey M. Depew, in the 
course of which he said that the gentlemen represented in the 
painting were splendid examples of American success, and gave 
a brief sketch of the principal ones. Cyrus Field, the son of a 
Connecticut clergyman who had naught to give his family 
but an education and an example, had retired from business 
with a fortune at thirty-five. His brother, David Dudley, 
stood in the front rank of American lawyers, his codifications 
of law having secured national and international recognition. 
Marshall O. Roberts had ventured with equal success upon the 
ocean and upon the land. Wilson G. Hunt was a conserva- 
tive, broad-minded, and eminently successful New York 
merchant. Moses Taylor was one of the most far-sighted 
and eminent bankers and projectors of America. Peter 
Cooper had overcome ahnost insurmountable obstacles to 
his career, and at ninety years of age was still quick in his 
sympathy with the growth of the city, the development of 
his country, with the needs of mankind, and with every 
effort for the education and assistance of youth. 

"The factors presented to these men of caution and of 
sense," said Mr. Depew, "were, a letter from Lieutenant 
Maury, of the United States Navy, expressmg a belief in a 
level plateau under the ocean between Newfoundland and 
Ireland; a letter from Prof. Morse, then radiant with the 
young fame of his successful telegraph, saying that though 
it never had been tried, he yet beh'eved a message could be 
transmitted through three thousand miles of wire; and the 







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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 131 

enthusiasm and confidence of Cyrus W. Field. 'It will unite 
the Old World and the New, it will promote peace and civiliza- 
tion, it will help commerce, it will bring our country in con- 
tact with the world, and upon that I will stake my reputation, 
my undivided time and energies and my fortune,' said Mr. 
Field. 'This is more patriotism than business,' was the an- 
swer of his guests, 'but we will furnish the money required.'" 
A brief address of acceptance was made by Alexander E. 
Orr, President of the Chamber. 



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CHAPTER XXVII 
THE WASHINGTON AND SHERMAN STATUES 

SECURED FOR THE CITY BY THE CHAMBER — ^DEDICATION 

EXERCISES 

1883-1903 

The city is indebted to the Chamber of Commerce for two 
notable public statues — that of Washington in Wall Street 
and that of General Sherman at the Plaza entrance to the 
Central Park. The proposal for each of these originated in 
the Chamber and through its efforts the necessary funds 
were collected and the project consummated. 

Early in 1880 when the question of commemorating in a 

suitable manner the centennial of the evacuation of the city 

by the British, November 25, 1783, was under discussion, 

a motion was made in the Chamber that a monument be 

erected, on the anniversary, to commemorate the inauguration 

of George Washington as first President of the United States. 

The motion was received with favor and a committee was 

appointed to carry it into effect. It was decided that the most 

fitting place for the monument was the spot upon which 

Washington stood when he took the oath of office. As the 

subtreasury building stands on the site occupied by the old 

Federal Hall, on the balcony of which Washington took the 

oath, it was necessary to obtain from Congress permission to 

use the front steps of the subtreasury for the purpose. This 

was readily granted. The conunittee sought and obtained 

from eminent artists of the city and elsewhere suggestions as 

to the form of the monument and from these it reached the 

conclusion that a bronze statue of Washington was the 

most appropriate, and that it should be, *'in all respects, a 

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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 133 



complete embodiment of the exalted character of Washington, 
together with the great event the statue commemorates," 
and that "no expense be spared to make it, in all respects, 
worthy of the cause." J. Q. A. Ward was engaged to 
design the statue and its accompaniments. The Chamber 
invited the public generally to contribute to the fund and 
asked for the co-operation of various commercial bodies in 
the movement. 

As the 25th of November fell on Sunday, the dedication ex- 
ercises were held on Monday, November 26, 1883. In spite of 
a heavy storm of rain, an audience of several thousand persons 
assembled to witness the ceremonies which began at i p. m. 
There were many distinguished guests including the Presi- 
dent of the United States, Chester A. Arthur; the Governor 
of the State, Grover Cleveland; the Mayor of New York, 
Franklin Edson; the Mayor of Brooklyn, Seth Low; the 
Secretary of the Treasury, Charles J. Folger, and the Comp- 
troller of the Currency, John Jay Knox. Mr. George W. 
Lane, President of the Chamber of Commerce, presided. The 
statue was unveiled by Governor Cleveland, and brief ad- 
dresses were made by President Arthur, Mr. Lane, and Mr. 
Royal Phelps, chairman of the committee that had been in 
charge of the project. President Arthur said he was present 
merely for a slight and formal part in the day's exercises, and 
aroused enthusiastic applause by adding: 

"I have come to this historic spot where the first President 
of the Republic took oath to preserve, protect and defend 
its Constitution, simply to accept, in behalf of the govern- 
ment, this tribute to his memory. Long may the noble 
statue you have here set up stand where you have placed it, 
a monument alike to your generosity and public spirit, and 
to the wisdom and virtue and genius of the immortal Wash- 
ington." 

The oration of the day was delivered by George William 
Curtis and was worthy of his high reputation as one of the 



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134 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

most scholarly writers and eloquent orators of his time. 
The limits of this volume do not permit the reproduction in 
full of this really noble flight of eloquence, but the record 
would be incomplete and inexcusably defective without some 
typical citations from it. A few are appended: 

From the balcony of the hall that stood here the Declaration of 
Independence was first read to the citizens of New York, and al- 
though the enemy's fleet had entered the harbor, the people as 
they hstened, tore down the royal arms from the walls of the hall 
and burned them in the street, as their fiery patriotism was about 
to consume the royal power in the province. Here, sat the Con- 
tinental Congress in its closing days. . . . Yonder, almost within 
sound of my voice, still stands the ancient and famous inn where 
the Commander-in-Chief tenderly parted with his officers, and 
there, over the way, where once a modest mansion stood, the 
Federalist was chiefly written. The very air about this hallowed 
spot is the air of American patriotism. To breathe it, charged 
with such memories, is to be inspired with the loftiest human pur- 
pose, to be strengthened for the noblest endeavor. By the most 
Impressive associations, by the most dignified and important his- 
toric events, was this place dedicated to the illustrious transaction 
which we commemorate to-day. 

What scene in human history transcends the grandeur and the 
significance of that consecration? Gazing upon this sculptured 
form, and remembering that this was the very hour and this 
the place of the sublime event; that here, under the benignant 
arch of heaven, Washington appeared to take the oath of his great 
office, — the air is hushed, even the joyous tumult of this glad day 
is stilled, the familiar scene fades from before our eyes, and our 
awed hearts whisper within us: "Put off thy shoes from off thy 
feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." 

The streets, the windows, the roofs, were thronged with people, 
and, drowning my feeble voice, surely you can hear the vast and 
prolonged shout that saluted the hero. Touched to the heart by 
the affectionate greeting, he advanced to the railing, and, placing 
his hand upon his breast, he bowed low, and then for a moment, 
overwhelmed by emotion, he stepped back and seated himself 
amid a sudden and solemn silence. Then he arose, and coming 
forward, his majestic and commanding frame stood upon the 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 135 

identical stone upon which I stand at this moment, and which, 
fixed fast here beneath the Statue, will remain, in the eyes of all 
men, an imperishable memorial of the scene. 

Fellow-citizens, the solemn dedication of Washington to this 
august and triumphant task is the event which this Statue will 
commemorate to imbom generations. Elsewhere, in bronze and 
marble, and upon glowing canvas, genius has delighted to invest 
with the immortality of art the best-beloved and most familiar of 
American figiu-es. The surveyor of the Virginia wilderness, the 
leader of the revolution, the president, the man, are known of 
all men; they are everywhere beheld and revered. But here, at 
last, upon the scene of the crowning event of his life, and of his 
country 's life, — here, in the throbbing heart of the great city, where 
it will be daily seen by countless thousands, here, in the presence 
of the President of the United States, of the Governor of New 
York, of the official authorities of other States, of the organized 
body of New York merchants who, as in other years, they have led 
the city in so many patriotic deeds upon this spot, lead now in 
this commemoration of the greatest; and finally, of this vast and 
approving concourse of American citizens, we raise this cabn and 
admonishing form. Its majestic repose shall charm and subdue 
the multitudinous life that heaves and murmurs aroimd it, and 
as the moon draws the swaying tides of ocean, its lofty serenity 
shall lift the hunying throng to unselfish thoughts, to generous 
patriotism, to a nobler life. Here descended upon our fathers the 
benediction of the personal presence of Washington. Here may 
the moral grandeur of his character and his life inspire our children's 
children forever ! 



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In the evening of the same day the Chamber gave a banquet 
at Delmonico's in commemoration of the British evacuation 
at which President Arthur and other illustrious guests who had 
attended the exercises in Wall Street were present, together 
with the Governors of the thirteen original States and a large 
number of eminent citizens. President Arthur made a brief 
speech which was a graceful recognition of the Chamber's 
past and present services in the cause of patriotism: 

Gentlemen of the Chamber of Commerce: I thank you for this 
kindly greeting. The liberahty and patriotism of the merchants 



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136 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

of New York contributed in no small measure to the triumph of 
the American Revolution. The crowning evidence of that tri- 
umph was the glad event whose one hundredth anniversary we 
are celebrating to-day. You have abundant right to share in 
that celebration, for you are the successors of those patriotic mer- 
chants who so signally upheld the national cause, and so rejoiced 
at the final withdrawal of all armed opposition to its ascendancy. 
And you yourselves have given indisputable proof that the fervor 
and faith of the fathers have abated not one jot or tittle in the 
children, and that you are ready to lend your support to every 
measure which is calculated to promote the honor and credit 
and glory of the nation. I am proud to meet you, and again 
thank you heartily for the warmth of this reception. 

There was a long list of speakers, including Joseph H. 
Choate, who said: "When I read this toast which you have 
just drunk in honor of her gracious Majesty, the Queen of 
Great Britain, and heard how you received the letter of the 
British Minister that was read in response, and how heartily 
you joined in singing 'God save the Queen,' when I look up 
and down these tables and see among you so many repre- 
sentatives of English capital and English trade, I have my 
doubts whether the evacuation of New York by the British 
was quite as thorough and lasting as history would fain have 
us believe." 

Speeches were made also by Governor Cleveland, Governor 
Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts, the Reverend Henry 
Ward Beecher, Governor Thomas W. Waller, of Connecticut, 
and J. Q. A. Ward. The occasion was one of the most brilliant 
in the history of the Chamber. 

A no less valuable gift than the Washington statue, in the 
same field of artistic adornment, was made to the city by 
the Chamber in the incomparable equestrian statue of Gen- 
eral W. T. Sherman, by Saint Gaudens. This noble work 
was many years in the making, for the artist could not be 
hurried, meeting all efforts to hasten him with the words: 
"Fm t h in k i n g about it— you'll be satisfied when it is finished." 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 137 



Immediately after Sherman's death members of the Cham- 
ber started a movement to erect a suitable statue in his mem- 
ory. He had during his closing years become somewhat in- 
timately associated with the society. He was frequently 
an honored guest at its annual banquets, had been made an 
honorary member of it, and attended its monthly meetings 
quite regularly. The members felt that they owed it, not 
only to themselves and to the Chamber, but to the city that 
his great services to the nation should be commemorated in a 
monument that, in its artistic merits, should be worthy of 
him and an honor to the city. A meeting was called in the 
Chamber on March 2, 1891, when a committee, composed 
of twelve members, was formed under the titie of "Com- 
mittee of the Sherman Statue Fund." By universal agree- 
ment, Augustus Saint Gaudens was decided to be the most 
desirable sculptor for the work. The committee called upon 
him and found him very willing to undertake it. An agree- 
ment was drawn up by which an equestrian statue was to be 
completed by him within two years. Subscriptions were 
easily obtained and the necessary fund was raised in a short 
time. Finally, Saint Gaudens completed his work in Paris 
and it was exhibited there fiirst, in colossal size and in plas- 
ter, holding first place of honor in the Salon in 1899. When 
photographs of it arrived in this country, the members of 
the committee who were still living, for many of them had 
died in the meantime, forgot, in their admiration of the re- 
sult, the irritation which the delay had caused. Surely, the 
end had crowned the work. 

The statue was brought to New York and additional delay 
was caused through the refusal of the municipal park authori- 
ties to grant a suitable site for it. Finally, in 1903, under the 
administration of Mayor Low, a site was granted at the Fifth 
Avenue entrance to the Central Park, and on May 30 of that 
year, Decoration Day, it was unveiled with impressive cere- 
monies. Mr. Cornelius N. Bliss, Vice-President of the Cham- 



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138 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

ber of Commerce, presided and presented the statue to the 
city in the name of the Chamber and other civic organiza- 
tions. Mayor Low accepted it in a formal speech, and an 
address was delivered by the Honorable Elihu Root. The 
invocation was pronounced by Archbishop Farley and the 
benediction by Bishop Potter. 



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CHAPTER XXVIII 
A VISIT TO LONDON 

GUESTS OF THE LONDON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE — A WEEK OF 
ENTERTAINMENTS WITH A NOTABLE BANQUET 

I9OI 

Cordial relations, based upon a mutual desire to promote 
peace and good-will between the two nations, have always 
existed between the Chamber and its namesake in London. 
British representatives, official and private, have always been 
heartily welcomed while visiting New York and in many in- 
stances have been given formal receptions by the Chamber 
at which it has had the highly appreciated privilege of hear- 
ing interesting and valuable addresses from the guests. In 
May, 1899, the London Chamber of Commerce, in recogni- 
tion of these many courtesies, formally invited the New York 
society to send a delegation to London to be guests at a 
public banquet on such a date as would suit their con- 
venience. The invitation was cordially accepted, but because 
of the war in South Africa, and the Presidential election in the 
United States in 1900, the date was not fixed till 1901, when 
June 5 was selected. The Chamber chose a delegation of 
thirty-eight of its prominent members, headed by its Presi- 
dent, Morris K. Jesup. They arrived in London on June 
I and were the recipients of distinguished and most enjoy- 
able courtesies during their week of sojourn. Although the 
Court was in mourning for Queen Victoria, whose death had 
occurred only a short time previous, a reception was arranged 
for them at Windsor Castle at which the King and Queen 
greeted them in a most friendly and gracious manner. An 
official reception was also given to them at his residence by 
the American Ambassador, Joseph H. Choate, at which the 

139 



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140 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

most eminent men in official and social life in London, as 
well as the diplomatic representatives of foreign governments, 
were present. 

The banquet, which took place in the hall of the Grocers' 
Guild, one of the oldest of the merchants* associations of Lon- 
don, was attended by more than three hundred guests. Lord 
Brassey, President of the London Chamber, presided, with the 
American Ambassador, Mr. Choate, on his right. The Mar- 
quis of Lansdowne, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 
responded to the toast, "The President of the United States," 
and in beginning his speech said: "I think I may say to all 
the subjects of His Majesty, it requires an effort to think of 
our relations with the United States of America as foreign 
relations," a sentiment that was greeted with cheers. 

Lord Brassey proposed the toast, "Our friends of the Cham- 
ber of Commerce of the State of New York," and in the course 
of his remarks said: "We give a warm welcome to our guests 
for many reasons. We welcome them as representatives of 
the skill and the enterprise which have turned the vast re- 
sources of the American continent to the service of man. 
We of this old coimtry are largely sharers in the benefits of 
that skill and that enterprise. Our teeming millions could not 
live without the food which America produces." Continu- 
ing, he paid a high tribute to the New York Chamber, saying 
of it: "It is something more than an organization of men 
engaged in commerce. Its members stand at all times ready 
to apply their knowledge of affairs and their skill as adminis- 
trators to wider matters than the mere pursuit of gain; 
and when they speak they speak with weight and authority. 
Not long ago a suitable occasion offered. When difficulties 
had arisen in relation to Venezuela, the London Chamber of 
Commerce appealed to the New York Chamber to use their 
good offices in the cause of a peaceful solution. They re- 
sponded to the call. We desired to mark our deep sense of the 
service rendered. It has brought us together this evening." 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 141 

Mr. Jesup, who was called upon by Lord Brassey to re- 
spond for the New York Chamber, made a speech which 
created the most profound impression of the evening. Speak- 
ing of the many acts of friendship that Americans had received 
from Englishmen, he disclosed this extremely interesting bit of 
unwritten history in connection with the Chamber: 

I remember, and I say it with infinite gratitude, that in the 
year 1837, when our country was passing through a disastrous 
financial distress, when our banks had suspended specie payments 
and when our people were discouraged, that one of our loyal and 
most faithful citizens, Mr. Ja^es Gore King, afterwards the Pres- 
ident of our Chamber, visited London, and, by his high character, 
so impressed your financial men that the Bank of England ad- 
vanced one million pounds sterling in sovereigns and sent the same 
by packet to New York under the control of Mr. King, to enable 
the banks in New York to resume specie payments, and thus re- 
store confidence to our community. That bank did a most kindly 
and magnanimous thing. No stipulation was made as to the re- 
tum of that money; neither did they expect or ask for any reward. 
It was a kindly act, and one that will never be forgotten. 

The Right Honorable Lord Avebury, President of the Asso- 
ciation of Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom, and 
Vice-President of the London Chamber of Commerce; the 
Right Honorable William J. Pirrie, of Belfast; the Right 
Honorable Lord Alverstone, Lord Chief Justice of England; 
Albert G. Sandeman, ex-Governor of the Bank of Eng- 
land; Mr. Choate, Andrew Carnegie, A. Barton Hepburn, 
A. Foster Higgins, and Clement A. Griscom also made 
speeches. 

Mr. Pirrie, who as the representative of English manu- 
factures, spoke to the toast of " Commerce and Manufactures," 
said in the course of his speech: "As a manufacturer, or at 
least one engaged all my life in a large industrial business, I 
have nothing but admiration for the way in which our Amer- 
ican friends have made necessity the mother of invention in 



! if 

H 

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I 




142 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

manufactures, and have, out of their inventive genius and 
power of resource, evolved machinery that has revolution- 
ized the workshop." 

Mr. Hepburn, who like Mr. Pirrie spoke on the toast 
"Commerce and Manufactures," paid this glowing tribute to 
England, which was received with cheers: "The commercial 
prosperity of a nation is largely dependent upon its land and 
sea power. That government is best which, being strongest, 
utilizes its power to promote those cordial principles, liberty 
and justice, upon which all true prosperity is based. Great 
Britain, in extending its dominion, is entitled to this en- 
comium. Wherever the British flag has been planted, ma- 
terial, moral, and financial advancement has inevitably fol- 
lowed. A high sense of commercial honor, the inviolability 
of contract, and the open door are among the blessings that 
follow British rule." 

Mr. Choate spoke briefly, saying: "I rise to propose a 
loyal benediction in offering the last toast in honor of the Lon- 
don Chamber, which I shall do without more ado, and in as 
few words as possible. This London Chamber of Commerce 
have done a noble and magnanimous act in thus extending the 
right hand of friendship to the most formidable rivals they 
have in the kindred nation across the sea, an act of friendship 
which, I believe, speaks the true sentiments of the vast ma- 
jority of the people on both sides of the Atlantic toward the 
other nation. It confirms the conviction that rests strongly 
in my mind that commerce, no matter what has been its his- 
tory in the past, is now, and in the future will be, the real 
pacifier, the peacemaker, the blessing, the common and mutual 
blessing of all mankind." 

On the day following the banquet, June 6, Lord Brassey 
gave a private reception to the American delegates at his 
residence which was attended by a large number of dis- 
tinguished guests. On June 7 the Lord Mayor of London 
received the delegates at the Mansion House. The visitors 



) 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 143 

were introduced to the Lord Mayor by Lord Brassey in a brief 
speech to which the Lord Mayor responded. Mr. Jesup spoke 
a few words in behalf of his associates, saying: "I speak the 
sentiments of their hearts as well as my own when I say that 
the kindnesses we have received in various ways since our 
arrival in London have captivated our hearts. We are the 
children of this great country, and coming here is like coming 
home." 

Immediately following the Lord Mayor's reception the dele- 
gates were entertained at a luncheon by the London Cham- 
ber, presided over by Mr. Sandeman. Speeches were made 
by him and by Mr. Thomas L. Blackwell, of the London Cham- 
ber, and by Mr. Carnegie and Mr. Jesup in reply. A photo- 
graph of the delegates and their hosts was taken at the close 
of the exercises on the steps of the hall in which it had been 
held. 

In an address which he made a few months later at the 
annual dinner of the New York Chamber, Mr. Choate said of 
the London visit that it was a truly notable event, that the 
delegates from the New York Chamber were in London as 
the "representatives of a nation more prosperous than in any 
previous period of its history, and, may I not say, more pros- 
perous than any other nation of which we now have any 
knowledge." Concerning Mr. Jesup's speech, Mr. Choate 
paid him this fine compliment: "He stood in the presence, 
I may say, of the British nation, of all that represented its 
power and its commerce, and made one of the most felicitous 
addresses to which it has ever been my pleasure to listen." 

The above account of this memorable visit is necessarily 
little more than an outline. A full report of all the incidents, 
with the text of the speeches at the banquets and receptions 
and membership the American delegation, was published in 
1901 by the Chamber in an attractive volume, entitied "A 
Pledge of International Friendship." 



ill 



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CHAPTER XXIX 

EARLY HOMES OF THE CHAMBER 

FAMOUS HISTORIC BUILDINGS WHICH IT HAS OCCUPIED — ^ITS 

LATER TEMPORARY ABODES 

I 768-1902 

Several of the buildings in which the Chamber passed the 
jGirst half-century of its corporate existence were the scenes of 
events which hold first rank in the history, not only of the city 
of New York but of the country. Only one of them remains 
to-day, but the fame of all of them, intimately associated as 
it is with the birth of the nation as a free and independent 
republic, will endure as long as history is written or read. 
Coffee-rooms or restaurants were the assembly-rooms of 
the day, for no others existed. In them the people of the city 
came together for social intercourse and conviviality, or to 
give formal expression of opinion on public affairs. New 
York of the colonial days was a convivial commimity. Its 
members loved to eat and drink together, to season their talk 
with cheer for the inner man. 

It was inevitable, therefore, that when the society of mer- 
chants desired a meeting-place for their proceedings they must 
seek it in a tavern or coffee-house. The principal one at the 
time was Bolton & SigeFs restaurant, known even to the pres- 
ent day as "Fraunces's Tavern." The building, restored 
practically to its original form, through the patriotic services 
of the Society of the Sons of the Revolution, still stands under 
that name at the comer of Pearl and Broad Streets. It was 
built by Etienne de Lancey, as a private residence, in 17 19, 
and was regarded as one of the finest houses in the city. There 
has been some uncertainty as to the exact year of its construc- 

144 






ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 145 

tion, but this has been removed by the discovery in the min- 
utes of the Common Council of New York of this entry under 
date of April 14, 1719: "Mr. de Lancey applies for a small 
strip of land to make his lot more regular in shape as he is 
now going to build a large brick house." It is added that he 
was granted three and a half feet at one corner to straighten 
the lot and for the better regulation of said street and build- 
ing. The location was given as Broad and Dock Streets. 
Dock was later changed to Queen, and still later Queen was 
changed to Pearl. It was built on the Broad Street side 
of yellow brick brought from Amsterdam, and on the Pearl 
Street side of English red brick. It was used as a residence 
by members of the De Lancey family till 1757, and from that 
date till 1763 as a warehouse and store. In the latter year it 
was sold to Samuel Francis, an innkeeper, who converted it 
into a tavern called the "Queen's Head" or "Queen Char- 
lotte's Tavern," in honor of the wife of George III. Francis 
was a West Indian of French extraction who, because of his 
swarthy complexion, was sometimes called "Black Sam," a 
title which has led some historical writers to speak of him 
erroneously as a negro. 

The building passed into the hands of Bolton & Sigel (some- 
times spelled Sigell) in 1767 and they were in charge of it 
when the Chamber of Commerce was founded there in the 
foUowing year. In 1770 Francis, who had leased it to them, 
retook possession, announcing that he had "refitted it in the 
most genteel and convenient manner for the reception of those 
gentlemen, ladies, and others who used to favor him with their 
company." He continued in charge till the Revolution was 
declared, when he joined the American army, remaining with 
it during the war. 

There are many conflicting accounts as to the size of the 
original building, due to changes which were made in it many 
years later and to pictures which present it in its transformed 
condition. All doubt on the point is removed by the descrip- 



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146 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

tion which Francis himself gave when he offered the building 
for sale in 1775. His advertisement read: "The Queen's 
Head Tavern is three stories high, with a tile and lead roof, 
has fourteen fireplaces, a most excellent large kitchen, five 
dry cellars, with good convenient offices, &c." 

During the Revolution a round shot from a British frigate 
went through the roof of the building, and the incident was 
immortalized by Philip Freneau, the poet of the period: 

"Scarce a broadside was ended till another began again— 
By Jove 1 It was nothing but fire away Flanagan 1 
Some thought him salutmg his SaUys and Nancys ^ ^^ 

'Til he drove a round shot through the roof of Sam Francis. 

Francis joined General Washington on the way to New 
York in 1783, after peace was declared, and returned with 
him to the city. He at once reclaimed and secured his prop- 
erty and reopened the house under the name of "Fraunces's 
Tavern," spelling his name in that way for the first time. It 
is evident that Washington had a liking for Francis, for while 
he was living at the Franklin House, in Cherry Street, which 
was the President's house for a time, he had him as steward 
and later took him with him to Philadelphia when that 
city was made the capital, retaining him in his service tiU 

1794. 

The tavern was the scene of many stirring incidents pre- 
ceding and during the Revolution. In April, 1774, when the 
excitement about non-importation was at its height, the 
Sons of Liberty and the Vigilance Committee met in the Long 
Room to protest against allowing English vessels with cargoes 
of tea aboard to land them. Some accounts say that while in 
session news was received that the Londotiy a ship with tea 
aboard, had just docked at the East India Company's wharf 
near by, and that the members adjourned in a body to the 
wharf and threw the tea overboard, thus making a "tea- 
party" to rival the Boston one. Other accounts say that the 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 147 

vessels were not allowed to land their cargoes and were sent 
away. 

On May 14, 1774, a meeting of merchants assembled in the 
Long Room to consider the question of uniting with the other 
colonies in a call for a Congress of the colonies. The atten- 
dance proving to be too large for the room, an adjournment 
was made to the Merchants' Coffee House, where a Com- 
mittee of Correspondence was appointed and who, on May 
2:^, issued the famous letter in which the idea of a union 
of the Colonies was first expressed. In August, 1774, the 
Massachusetts delegates to the Continental Congress in 
Philadelphia were entertained by the New York delegates 
at a banquet in the Long Room. The remarks of John 
Adams on the banquet and other subjects connected with the 
visit are set forth in a preceding chapter of this work. 

The Third Provincial Congress held its sessions in the 
Long Room from May 18 to June 30, 1776, a fact which is 
not generaUy known, but is attested by the records and also 
by a bill for entertainment paid to Francis. 

But the supreme claim of the old tavern to the title of 
shrine in American history Hes in the fact that it was the 
headquarters of Washington when he entered the city on the 
heels of the retiring British army. On that day, November 
25, 1783, Governor Clinton gave him a banquet in the famous 
Long Room in celebration of the event, and on December 
4 following, in the same Long Room, he took farewell of his 
officers in one of the most affecting scenes in history. 

On February 2, 1790, the Supreme Court of the United 
States was opened in the city of New York, and in the eve- 
ning the Grand Jury of the United States for the district 
''gave a very elegant entertainment in honor of the court 
at the tavern," which was attended by national and city 
dignitaries, members of Congress, gentlemen of the bar, and 
leading citizens. The guests were John Jay, of New York, 
Chief Justice, with Justices William Gushing, of Massa- 



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148 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

chusetts, James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, Robert Harrison, 
and John Blair, of Virginia. 

The building has been damaged by fire several times. In 
1832 its interior was partly burned out and a flat roof was 
added. In 1837 there was another conflagration, and in 
1852 the most serious of the series virtually destroyed the 
eastern end on Pearl Street. In repairing it, what was left 
of its original architectural merit was completely obUterated 
by the imposition of two additional stories with a flat roof, 
alterations which converted it into as ordinary and common- 
place a five-story barrack-appearing structure as could be 
found anywhere. Photographs of it at this period are famihar 
in Valentine's Manual and other pubUcations, and veiy sad 
exhibits they are of the awful possibiUties of so-caUed "mod- 
ern improvement" in the hands of a practical contractor. 

The city and the nation owe a lasting debt of gratitude to 
the Society of the Sons of the Revolution for rescuing this 
most interesting and venerable building from the hands of the 
destroyer. Under the reverent and intelUgent guidance of 
Mr. WiUiam H. Mersereau, the building has been completely 
restored and stands to-day as it stood when first constructed 
nearly two centuries ago. AU the additions were removed, 
the coating put upon the old bricks as improvement, was 
scraped off, and upon the original skeleton thus revealed the 
ancient body was reconstructed. This process of restoration 
was greatly helped by the preservation of the old roof lines 
and rafters. Modem bricks and stones which had been 
added were removed, yeUow bricks to match the original 
ones were sought and obtained in Holland, and red bricks of 
the original shape and color were found in old buildmgs m 
Baltimore. The first floor was raised to its former level, the 
windows were made to conform to the original ones, and the 
Long Room, which is on the second floor, was restored to its 
original dimensions, forty-three feet in length by thirty in 
width, with its fireplaces in brick at each end. All the ongi- 






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i 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 149 

nal timbers were retained above and below the Long Room, 
and every brick and piece of lumber of the original building, 
so far as possible, was left in place. The present appearance 
of the building is believed to be practically the same as dur- 
ing the Revolution. The Long Room has such a perfect 
atmosphere of age, is so pervaded with the spirit of tradi- 
tion, that one feels, as he stands in front of the fireplace 
where Washington stood in that farewell scene, an emotion 
like that which every American experiences when he visits 
Mount Vernon. This is especially the effect upon members 
of the Chamber of Commerce who visit it and read upon 
the bronze tablet above that fireplace the inscription declar- 
ing it to have been the birthplace of their society. 

The second home of the Chamber was in the Royal Ex- 
change, a building that stood upon brick stilts, or arches, at 
the lower end of Broad Street in a line with Water Street. 
It replaced a former structure which consisted of nothing but 
a roof on stilts. The second one also was a very curious struc- 
ture, for its ground floor was open on all sides, and in tempes- 
tuous weather the merchants who gathered there for business 
found it extremely uncomfortable. It had a second story 
which was enclosed and consisted of a single room. The build- 
ing had been projected originally by the merchants of the city, 
who contributed to the funds for its erection, but through lack 
of sufficient money for the purpose the corporation of the city 
was appealed to for a grant which it made and under which 
the structure was completed. It was taken over by the city 
government and controUed by it afterward. One of the stipu- 
lations of the corporation was that the second story should 
consist of a room "not exceeding fifteen feet in height and not 
less than fourteen feet and should be arched from the height 
of the said fourteen feet," and that the building itself should 
have a cupola upon it. Later a bell was hung in the cupola. 

The building, which was of brick, was completed in 1754, 
and its upper story, composed entirely of the so-called Great 



W 



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150 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

Room, was used for a time as a store and later for balls and 
parties of various kinds. A coffee-room was later partitioned 
off at one end. When the royal charter was granted to the 
Chamber in 1770, it was provided therein that the "Meetmgs 
of the said Corporation shaU be held in the Great Room of 
the building commonly called the Exchange, situated at the 
lower End of the Street called broad Street." The Chamber 
held its meetings there till the outbreak of the RevoluUon. 
The building itself was taken down after the Revolution. 

The third temporary home of the Chamber, called the 
Merchants' Coffee House, was one of the most famous of the 
historic buildings of New York. It was a four-story structure 
of slight architectural merit, and is thought to have been 
built about 1737. It stood at the southeast comer of Wall 
and Water Streets. In its early days it was used as a slave- 
market and general auction-room. During the French and 
Indian War, when privateering was very general, captures 
made by New York vessels were sold there, including human 
beings as well as goods. An advertisement of the period offers 
for sale whole cargoes of "fine men, women, boys and gnrls, 
the white slaves being sold under the title of "Term of 
Service " Later, when the stamp-tax agitation arose, pubhc 
meetings of protest were held there, and it was the regular 
place of assembly for all committees and other bodies takmg 
the lead in opposition to the poUcy of the British Government. 
In its rooms was composed by Isaac Low, Alexander McDou- 
gall, James Duane, and John Jay the famous letter of May 
23 1774, which contained the first suggestion of the American 
Uilion by calling for a union of the Colonies agamst Great 
Britain and resulted in the first Continental Congress which 
assembled in Philadelphia on September 5 of that year. 

Other events which helped to give the building first 
rank among famous historical structures in the country, oc- 
curred in 1785 and 1789. On February 3, 1785, the Cham- 
ber of Commerce gave a banquet in the Long Room to 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 151 

President Washington and the members of the Continental 
Congress, thereby giving first formal recognition to the tem- 
porary government of the United States in the mterval 
between the end of the war and the adoption of the Con- 
stitution. Four years later, on April 23, 1789, in the same 
Long Room, the State and city officials of New York gave 
a reception to General Washington on his arrival in the city 
for his inauguration as first President under the Constitu- 

tion. . 

This historic building was destroyed by fire m 1804. More 
than a century later fitting honor was paid to its memory 
by the placing of a handsome bronze commemorative tablet 
upon the building at present occupying its site at 93 WaU 
Street. The tablet, which was the result of patriotic efforts 
by the Lower Wall Street Business Men^s Association, was 
unveiled with appropriate exercises on May 23, 1914, with 
Seth Low, President of the Chamber of Commerce, and 
Honorary President of the Association, as presiding officer. 
Among the speakers was Abram Wakeman, who was tiie 
originator and very zealous promoter of the project. To 
his interesting and valuable pubHcations on the history of 
lower New York, and especially lower Wall Street, aU writers 
on subjects connected with the city's early history are much 

indebted. 

The Chamber continued to hold its sessions m the Mer- 
chants' Coffee House tiU 1793- Two lots on tiie diagonally 
opposite comer of Wall and Water Streets had been purchased 
by a sort of mutual benefit organization called the Tontine 
Association, named after Lorenzi Tonti, a NeapoUtan who 
had founded a similar organization in France in 1653. On 
these lots the Tontine Association began in 1791 the erection 
of a four-story building which was called the Tontine Coffee 
House. The structure was completed in 1793. In April of 
that year there appears in the minutes of the Chamber of 
Commerce tiiis entry: "A committee was appointed to agree 



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152 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

with Mr. Hyde for the use of a room for the accommodation 
of the Chamber on their next and subsequent meetings." 
John Hyde was the first landlord of the Tontine Coffee 
House. At the May meeting of the Chamber, stewards 
were appointed "for the ordering of a public dinner at 
the Tontine Coffee House for the merchants in general of 
the city." 

Contemporary prints show the building to have had a high 
first-floor story, with arched windows, and a piazza six feet 
wide extending over the sidewalk on Wall Street. An English 
traveller, who visited New York in 1794, thus described it: 
"The Tontine Tavern and Coffee House is a handsome large 
brick building; you ascend six or eight steps under a portico, 
into a large public room, which is the Stock Exchange of New 
York where all bargains are made. The house was built for 
the accommodation of merchants. You can lodge and board 
there at a common table, and you pay ten shillings currency 
a day whether you dine out or not." 

In the fifties the Tontine Coffee House was taken down and 
a new structure, faced with French granite and four stories 
in height, called the Tontine Building, was erected in its 
place. This in turn gave way m 1905 to a third buildmg 
which occupies the site to-day under the same name. 

The Chamber remained in the Tontine Coffee House till 
1827, when it removed to rooms in the Merchants' Exchange, 
which was completed in that year. This building, which was 
one of the most costly and pretentious that had been erected 
in the city up to that time, stood on the site in Wall Street 
that was occupied later by the custom-house. Construction 
of it began in 1825 by an association which had been incor- 
porated with a capital of one million dollars. It had a front- 
age of one himdred and fifteen feet on Wall Street and ex- 
tended one hundred and fifty feet backward to Garden 
Street, now Exchange Place. It was three stories in height, 
with a high basement and attic, and was constructed of white 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 153 

Westchester marble. The first and second stories were 
modelled after the temple of Minerva in Ionia. Entrance 
was through a portico in the centre of the Wall Street front, 
which was elliptical in form and was inside of a row of four 
marble columns, thirty feet in height, which reached to the 
top of the second story. Each column was composed of a 
single block of marble. On the top of the building was a 
cupola, sixty feet in height and twenty-four feet m diameter, 
which rested upon columns within the structure forming a 
rotunda in the centre. The rotunda, which was oval in form, 
was seventy-five feet long, fifty feet wide and forty-two feet 
high, was the floor of the Exchange where business was trans- 
acted. In the centre there stood a colossal statue m marble 
of Alexander Hamilton by Ball Hughes. The building, which 
was the pride of the city in its day, cost two hundred and thirty 
thousand dollars. The basement was occupied by brokers' 
offices, and on the gallery facing the rotunda the merchants 
had their offices. The post-office was also located in it, and 
there were rooms for such tenants as the Chamber of Com- 
merce. The building was totally consumed in the great fire 
of 1835 which destroyed four hundred and thirty-five buildings 
and caused a total loss of seventeen million dollars. Desper- 
ate efforts were made to save the Hamilton statue but the fury 
of the flames made it impossible to do so. 

After the destruction of the Merchants' Exchange, the 
Chamber found quarters in the Merchants' Bank in the cen- 
tral part of Wall Street. The building had been originally a 
private dwelling and was not a commodious structure. Three 
years after the Chamber had found a home there, the building 
was destroyed and in 1840 the bank took up its quarters in a 
new granite structure, erected on the same site, with a front 
of four high columns, which was said at the time to have 
been the finest banking-house in the United States and to 
have cost more than forty thousand dollars. The Chamber 
followed the bank into this building and remained there till 



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154 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

1858, when it removed to the Underwriters' Building at 
William and Cedar Streets, remaining there till 1884. 

In the Mutual Life Building on Nassau Street, between 
Cedar and Liberty Streets, whither the Chamber moved in 
1884, it found far more commodious quarters than it had 
hitherto occupied. It had a fine suite of rooms, including a 
large one for its meetings, and these were fiunished in a dig- 
nified and handsome manner in accord with the position which 
the Chamber held in public estimation. The Mutual Life 
Building stands on the site of the Dutch Church which was 
famous in the early days of the last century. For several 
years the Chamber had hoped to obtain this site for the erec- 
tion of a building of its own as a permanent home, but it 
was not able, for various reasons, to do so. The rooms which 
it took possession of in 1884, while sufficiently ample for the 
purpose at that time, were gradually outgrown and ultimately 
became inadequate, especially in affording accommodation 
for the rapidly accumulating collection of portraits and the 
large and expanding library. 



I 



immmmfmm 



CHAPTER XXX 
THE CHAMBER'S PERMANENT HOME 

FUND FOR ITS CONSTRUCTION — GREAT HALL AND PORTRAIT- 
GALLERY— DEDICATION EXERCISES— STATUES AND 

MEMORIAL TABLET 

1902-1911 

For nearly one hundred and thirty-five years the Chamber 
of Commerce led what may be caUed a Bohemian existence. 
It had no home of its own, but wandered about from one place 
to another, finding temporary quarters in any building which 
at the time best suited its purposes. In its early days the 
nomadic character of its life was especially marked, its lodging- 
place being any tavern or coffee-house or merchants' exchange 
that granted it hospitality. Several of these temporary abid- 
ing-places were of large historic interest in the days preceding 
and immediately foUowmg the Revolution, and brief accounts 
of them are given in the preceding chapter. As it grew in 
numbers and influence and developed into an institution that 
represented not merely the commercial, industrial, and finan- 
cial interests of the nation, but was also a recognized leader 
in all causes affecting the national welfare and honor, the need 
of a home of its own, worthy of its traditions and purposes, 
was keenly felt by its members. This was accentuated by the 
important part which the society had taken in sustaining the 
policy of the national government during the Civil War. 
Various projects for a permanent home had been mentioned 
in a random and vague form before that time, but it was not 
till after the close of the war that the question was brought 
before the members in a sufficiently concrete form to secure 

iSS 






156 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

for it serious consideration. At the annual meeting in May, 
1865, Abiel A. Low, President of the society, brought it to 
the attention of the members in a manner so forcible as to 
lead to formal action. " Commerce," said he, "has found just 
expression through these last four years of civil war, in the 
moral and financial support given to the Government of the 
United States, and in the influence it has exerted for and with, 
throughout the loyal North. It has found just expression in 
the rewards and honors bestowed upon many of the great 
and heroic men, who, on land and on the sea, have shed such 
lustre upon our country's renown. 

"Is it not right," he continued, "that conmaerce should 
do something in its own honor, to perpetuate its own history, 
to hand down the portraiture of men who have been distin- 
guished in the walks of business for moral worth and lives of 
usefubess? Is it not right that this Chamber should have a 
building that will stand as a monument of its own just pride, 
answering the demands of its steadily increasing members, 
and what seems to be a revival of interest in its affairs— a 
building commensurate with the growth in wealth of the chief 
commercial city of the world; the heart and centre of a Com- 
merce which promises to exceed in magnitude that of any 
country hitherto known to history ? " 

Putting his suggestion in concrete form, Mr. Low, with the 
clear foresight which was his distinguishing attribute, pro- 
ceeded to outline a project which tiiirty-seven years later was 
carried into effect. "We want and should have," he said, 
"an edifice wherein our merchants can meet on public occa- 
sions, witii a separate hall for the gatiierings of tiiis society, 
and a gaUery for tiie exhibition of tiie portraits of eminent 
merchants of our own and other lands. It has seemed to us 
that it should not be difficult to find twenty-five men who 
Avill give ten thousand dollars each, fifty who will give five 
thousand doUars each, and five hundred who will give one 
thousand dollars each, in all one million of dollars !" 



II ! 






ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 157 

The President's remarks were received with great applause 
and a committee of ten, with the President and Secretary as 
members, was appointed to report at an early day what steps 
were necessary to carry the proposal into effect. From that 
day the figure of one milKon dollars was fixed immovably as 
the desired building-fund, and systematic efforts to raise it 
began, but for many years little progress was made. The 
subject was brought up for discussion from time to time, but 
it was not till 1897 that tangible results began to be achieved. 
At the annual meeting in May of that year, Alexander E. 
Orr, President of the Chamber, announced that $248,500 had 
been subscribed by eighteen gentlemen and one lady, and he 
asked for a committee to be appointed to seek further sub- 
scriptions. On June 9 following, the committee reported 
$468,500 and announced that within a few days the amount 
would be increased to a half million. In November following, 
at the annual banquet, it was announced that the subscrip- 
tions had reached $620,000 by two hundred members. From 
this time, the advance toward the desired million became 
steady and rapid. In May, 1898, the total was $633,250; 
in April, 1899, $705,100; in June foUowing, $767,550, and on 
April 5, 1900, President Orr annoimced the full million had 
been subscribed by five hundred and two members and two 
ladies. A site was obtained in Liberty Street, adjoining 
the centre of the financial district of the city and the erection 
of the building was begun at once. 

The exterior of the building is shown in the frontispiece. 
The dominating feature of the interior is an assembly-hall and 
portrait-gallery combmed which occupies two stories in the 
centre of the structure. It is ninety feet in length by sixty feet 
in breadth with a half-domed ceiling, surmounted by a sky- 
light, thirty-eight feet above. On its walls are hung the 
portraits of the society's valuable collection, a full catalogue 
of which will be found in the Appendix of this volume. ^ It 
numbers at present two hundred and twenty-one portraits. 



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158 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

and there are also six marble statues and three bronze busts. 
Among the portraits the most notable are those of George 
Washington by Gilbert Stuart; Alexander Hamilton and De 
Witt Clinton, both by John Trumbull; John Bright and 
Richard Cobden, both by J. Fagnani; and Cadwallader 
Golden by Matthew Pratt. All the Presidents of the society 
since its foundation, with a few exceptions, and many of 
the Vice-Presidents and Secretaries are included, and with 
their portraits are those of Presidents Lincohi, Arthur, and 
Cleveland; Generals Scott, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, and 
Hancock; John Sherman, J. Pierpont Morgan, James J. Hill, 
and others whose names are prominent in the country ^s his- 
tory. Many of the portraits are the work of eminent artists 
of their times. Credit for the collection is due largely to 
George Wilson, for forty years the efl&cient and esteemed 
Secretary of the society, who devoted himself with untiring 
zeal to the task of assembling it. 

Ranged about the court on the floor above the assembly- 
hall are the President's room, committee-rooms, and the 
offices of the Secretary and his stajff. The fourth floor is 
given up entirely to the large and valuable library of the 

society. 

The building was dedicated with impressive exercises on 
November 11, 1902, in the presence of a very distinguished 
assemblage which included the President of the United States, 
Theodore Roosevelt; Grover Cleveland, the only ex-President 
living at the time; the Ambassadors of England and France, 
Sir Michael Henry Herbert, and M. Jules Cambon; Sir 
Albert K. Rollit, member of Parliament and Chairman of 
the London Chamber of Commerce; Prince Hans Heinrich 
von Pless, special representative of Germany; the Honorable 
Elihu Root, Secretary of War, and delegates from the chief 
Chambers of Commerce in Europe. Morris K. Jesup, 
President of the Chamber, presided and made an address in 
which he extended the cordial greetings of the Chamber to 




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158 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

and there are also six marble statues and three bronze busts. 
Among the portraits the most notable are those of George 
Washington by Gilbert Stuart; Alexander Hamilton and De 
Witt Clinton, both by John Trumbull; John Bright and 
Richard Cobden, both by J. Fagnani; and Cadwallader 
Golden by Matthew Pratt. All the Presidents of the society 
since its foundation, with a few exceptions, and many of 
the Vice-Presidents and Secretaries are included, and with 
their portraits are those of Presidents Lincohi, Arthur, and 
Cleveland; Generals Scott, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, and 
Hancock; John Sherman, J. Pierpont Morgan, James J. Hill, 
and others whose names are prominent in the country's his- 
tory. Many of the portraits are the work of eminent artists 
of their times. Credit for the collection is due largely to 
George Wilson, for forty years the efficient and esteemed 
Secretary of the society, who devoted himself with untiring 
zeal to the task of assembling it. 

Ranged about the court on the floor above the assembly- 
hall are the President's room, committee-rooms, and the 
offices of the Secretary and his staff. The fourth floor is 
given up entirely to the large and valuable library of the 

society. 

The building was dedicated with impressive exercises on 

November 11, 1902, in the presence of a very distinguished 

assemblage which included the President of the United States, 

Theodore Roosevelt; Grover Cleveland, the only ex-President 

living at the time; the Ambassadors of England and France, 

Sir Michael Henry Herbert, and M. Jules Cambon; Sir 

Albert K. Rollit, member of Parliament and Chairman of 

the London Chamber of Commerce; Prince Hans Heinrich 

von Pless, special representative of Germany; the Honorable 

Elihu Root, Secretary of War, and delegates from the chief 

Chambers of Commerce m Europe. Morris K. Jesup, 

President of the Chamber, presided and made an address in 

which he extended the cordial greetings of the Chamber to 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 159 

the illustxious guests and gave a review of the Chamber's 
history. Ex-President Cleveland delivered a formal address, 
in which, after alluding to the fact that although the Cham- 
ber was one hundred and thirty years old it was celebrating 
its first possession of a permanent home, he said: 

"Its purposes have been so practical, and the occasions for 
its useful and beneficial work have been so constant, that it 
has been abundantly content to make a career and add lus- 
tre to its name before providing for itself a local habitation; 
but no architectural finish and no ornate decoration befits 
this beautiful edifice so well as the bright coloring reflected 
from the splendid achievements proudly borne by those who 
now enter upon its occupancy." 

In conclusion, Mr. Cleveland said: "These exercises, re- 
calling so forcibly the growth of American commerce in 
world wide influence abroad, and in usefulness and beneficence 
at home, cannot fail to be of interest to all our countrymen; 
but the citizens of the greatest of our States and of our Im- 
perial City, with all they have to make them proud and happy, 
must especially congratulate themselves upon the associa- 
tion of their State and City with the fame and honor which 
have been wrought out by the Chamber of Commerce of the 
State of New York." 

At the request of Mr. Jesup, President Roosevelt, who was 
to deliver a formal address at later exercises in the evening, 
spoke a few words of welcome to the foreign guests, and 
brought the great assemblage to its feet with three cheers by 
saying: *'And now, gentlemen, having greeted your guests on 
behalf of you, I greet you in the name of the people, not merely 
because you stand for commercial success, but because this 
body has been able to show that the greatest commercial suc- 
cess can square with the immutable and eternal laws of de- 
cent and right living and of fair dealing between man and 



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Seth Low, as Mayor of the city, acknowledged in its name 



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i6o ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

the great services of the Chamber to it and expressed thanks 
for them. 

In the evening a grand banquet was held in the great hall 
of the Waldorf-Astoria, which was attended by about seven 
hundred persons and was one of the most brilliant in the 
Chamber's history. The distinguished guests of the morning 
exercises were again present and with them many others 
representing all professions and occupations and including 
the most illustrious members of each. The principal address 
was made by President Roosevelt. "There is no need," 
he said at the outset, "of my preaching to this gathering the 
need of combining efficiency with upright dealmg, for as an 
American citizen and as a citizen of New York, I am proud 
to feel that the name of your organization carries with it a 
guarantee of both, and your practice counts for more than 
any preaching could possibly count." Later in his remarks 
he said that "this body stands for the triumphs of peace, 
both abroad and at home,'* and then added a passage about 
the necessity of preparedness for war which sounds as if it . 
were taken from some speech of his ten or a dozen years 
later when the European War was threatemng to involve the 
country in its meshes. "Remember, gentlemen," he said, 
" that we shall be a potent factor for peace largely in propor- 
tion to the way in which we make it evident that our attitude 
is due, not to weakness, not to inability to defend ourselves, 
but to a genuine repugnance to wrong-doing, a genuine 
desire for self-respectmg friendship with our neighbors. The 
voice of the weakling or the craven counts for nothing when he 
clamors for peace; but the voice of the just man armed is 
potent. We need to keep in a condition of preparedness, 
especially as regards our navy, not because we want war, but 
because we desire to stand with those whose plea for peace is 
listened to with respectful attention." 

In closing, the President paid a warm tribute to the Cham- 
ber's work in the world, saying: 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS i6i 

Throughout its history, the Chamber of Commerce has stood 
for the higher kind of success — the success which comes as the 
reward of keen insight, of sagacity, of resolution, of address, com- 
bined with unflinching rectitude of behavior, public and private. 
It is therefore fitting that I should come on here as the Chief 
Executive of the nation to wish you well in your new home; for 
you belong not merely to the city, not merely to the State, but to 
all the country, and you stand high among the great factors in 
building up that marvellous prosperity which the entire country 
now enjoys. 

You are men of might in the world of American effort; you 
are men whose names stand high in the esteem of our people; you 
are spoken of in terms like those used in the long-gone ages when 
it was said of the Phoenician cities that their merchants were 
princes. Great is your power, and great, therefore, your respon- 
sibility. Well and faithfully have you met this responsibility in 
the past. We look forward with confident hope to what you will 
do in the future, and it is therefore with sincerity that I bid you 
Godspeed this evening, and wish for you, in the name of the na- 
tion, a career of ever increasing honour and usefulness. 

Speeches were made also by the French and English Am- 
bassadors; Sir Albert K. Rollit, M. P.; Prince Hans Hein- 
rich von Pless; M. V. Hugot, delegate from the Paris Cham- 
ber of Commerce; Paul Heckmann, delegate from the Berlin 
Chamber of Commerce; and William P. Wood, delegate 
from the London Chamber of Commerce and President of 
the London Com Trade Association. A full report of the 
proceedings of the day and evening, including the text of the 
speeches, was published by the Chamber subsequently in a 
handsome memorial volume in which there were also engrav- 
ings of the building, of the medal struck to commemorate the 
occasion, copies of the formal invitation and of the embossed 
programme of the banquet showing in reHef and colors the 
grouped flags of the United States and foreign countries rep- 
resented. 

The marble statues of De Witt Clinton, Alexander Hamil- 
ton, and John Jay, on the front of the building, v/ere formally 



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162 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

unveiled on November 17, 1903, at a special meeting called 
for the purpose. The donors of the statues were members of 
the Chamber, Morris K. Jesup presenting that of Clinton, 
John S. Kennedy that of Hamilton, and William E. Dodge 
that of Jay. At the imveiling exercises Mr. Jesup, President 
of the Chamber, presided and announced that with these 
acquisitions the building was completed. Benjamin B. Odell, 
Jr., Governor of the State, delivered an address on Clinton, 
the Honorable Charles S. Fairchild, Secretary of the Treasury 
in President Cleveland's second administration, spoke briefly 
of Hamilton, and Alton B. Parker, then Chief Judge of the 
Court of Appeals, gave a review of Jay's career and public 
services. 

A full report of these proceedings was also published by 
the Chamber subsequently, with the text of the speeches and 
engravings of the statues. 

Two of the most highly valued objects in the Chamber's 
possession were presented to it at its annual meeting on May 
7, 1908. They are a portrait of Washington by Gilbert 
Stuart and two vases which were presented by a body of New 
York merchants in 1825 to De Witt Clinton, then Governor 
of the State, in recognition of his services in promoting the 
building of the Erie Canal. The portrait and vases were 
bequeathed to the Chamber by one of its former Presidents, 
Morris K. Jesup. He purchased the portrait in London, in 
1902, where he found it on sale in a collection, and the vases 
from the last surviving heir of Governor Clinton in 1906. 
Joseph H. Choate, speaking in behalf of Mrs. Jesup who had 
carried out her late husband's wishes in donating the vases 
and portrait to the Chamber, read the correspondence which 
had taken place between the merchants and Governor Clin- 
ton, and said: "I trust that these vases will be accepted in 
the spirit m which Mrs. Jesup has offered them and in the 
spirit in which Mr. Jesup himself had intended to present 
them at the last annual meeting; that they will be cherished 



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162 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

unveiled on November 17, 1903, at a special meeting called 
for the purpose. The donors of the statues were members of 
tlie Chamber, Morris K. Jesup presenting that of Clinton, 
John S. Kennedy that of Hamilton, and William E. Dodge 
that of Jay. At the unveiling exercises Mr. Jesup, President 
of the Chamber, presided and announced that with these 
acquisitions the building was completed. Benjamin B. Odell, 
Jr., Governor of the State, delivered an address on Clinton, 
the Honorable Charles S. Fairchild, Secretary of the Treasury 
in President Cleveland's second administration, spoke briefly 
of Hamilton, and Alton B. Parker, then Chief Judge of the 
Court of Appeals, gave a review of Jay's career and public 

services. 

A full report of these proceedings was also published by 
the Chamber subsequently, with the text of the speeches and 
engravings of the statues. 

Two of the most highly valued objects in the Chamber's 
possession were presented to it at its annual meeting on May 
7, 1908. They are a portrait of Washington by Gilbert 
Stuart and two vases which were presented by a body of New 
York merchants in 1825 to De Witt Clinton, then Governor 
of the State, in recognition of his services in promoting the 
building of the Erie Canal. The portrait and vases were 
bequeathed to the Chamber by one of its former Presidents, 
Morris K. Jesup. He purchased the portrait in London, in 
1902, where he found it on sale in a collection, and the vases 
from the last surviving heir of Governor Clinton in 1906. 
Joseph H. Choate, speaking in behalf of Mrs. Jesup who had 
carried out her late husband's mshes in donating the vases 
and portrait to the Chamber, read the correspondence which 
had taken place between the merchants and Governor Clin- 
ton, and said: "I trust that these vases will be accepted in 
the spirit in which Mrs. Jesup has offered them and in the 
spirit in which Mr. Jesup himself had intended to present 
them at the last annual meeting; that they will be cherished 




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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 163 

as most valuable historical articles, as they certainly are — 
which could find no more appropriate place than this Cham- 
ber, and no more appropriate guardian than in the successors 
of the very merchants who conceived the idea of originally 
presenting them to Governor Clinton." 
" Of the Washington portrait, Mr. Choate said it was the best 
presentation of the Father of His Country that could be 
found anywhere, adding: "How could this Hall and this noble 
Gallery better be crowned than by this admirable portrait 
of Washington, who was the great friend of commerce, of pros- 
perity, and of peace among the people of his own country, 
and of the maintenance of friendly relations between them 
and foreign nations, which are indispensable to the success 
of our commerce and to our national prosperity?" 

In November, 191 1, a bronze tablet, commemorative of 
the services of Alexander E. Orr and Morris K. Jesup in pro- 
moting and securing the erection of the building was formally 
presented. It was placed later in the entrance-hall of the 
building and is a handsome addition to the structure. 




II' 1 



CHAPTER XXXI 
THE EUROPEAN WAR 

PREPAREDNESS AND UNIVERSAL SERVICE FAVORED— DECLARA- 
TION OF WAR APPROVED— PORT WAR BOARD SECURED 

1914-1918 

The record of the Chamber in regard to the war with Ger- 
many is, in patriotic spirit and prompt and wholehearted sup- 
port of the National Government, in full accord with its con- 
duct during the war of secession and the later war with Spain. 
Before the United States entered the European conflict, the 
Chamber recognized at once its duty in regard to the pro- 
tection of American commercial interests. At its first meeting, 
held in August, 1914, after war was declared by Germany, it 
appointed a very strong committee of twenty members to 
consider the problems of shipments during the war. This 
committee put itself in communication with members of 
Congress; prepared and issued reports on questions connected 
with the subject m hand which were printed in pamphlet 
form and circulated in thousands throughout the country; 
submitted resolutions which were adopted by the Cham- 
ber suggesting desirable legislation; sent a subcommittee to 
Washington that attended a conference over which the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury presided and which included sixty- 
four delegates who were representatives of clearing-houses, 
boards of trade, and shipping interests in all important parts 
of the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific. After several 
hours of discussion, this conference adopted, as an expression 
of its views, a series of resolutions to the same effect as those 

164 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 165 

which had been previously adopted by the New York Chamber 
of Commerce in relation to American registry, suspension 
or abrogation of existing navigation laws, and the establish- 
ment by the government of a Bureau of War Risk Insurance. 
In response to a request by the Secretary of the Treasury, 
the members of the conference remained in Washington for 
consultation and advice in devising legislation to carry out 
the recommendations, and the Chamber had the great satis- 
faction later of seeing, as the result of its leadership, its rec- 
ommendations embodied in law. 

Early in 1916 a special meeting was called to consider the 
question of national preparedness, and at this addresses were 
made by Joseph H. Choate and General Leonard Wood, both 
strongly in favor of immediate action. The subject was dis- 
cussed at much length at several successive meetings and a 
resolution was finaUy adopted, in April, 1916, urging the Presi- 
dent and Congress to give the matter their earnest considera- 
tion. An expression was also adopted in favor of universal 
physical and miHtary training. Later the Chamber appointed 
a special committee on military preparedness, who made a 
report that was adopted unanimously, in which universal 
training for military service was recommended. 

When in February, 1917, the news was received that Presi- 
dent Wilson had handed the German Ambassador his papers, 
because of the announcement by the Imperial German Govern- 
ment of its purpose to make submarine warfare upon all 
vessels, neutral or belKgerent, when found within specified 
barred zones, the Chamber, amid applause and without a dis- 
senting voice, adopted a series of resolutions including the 
following: 

Whereas, During two and a half years of war with Europe the 
Government of the United States has in the interests of peace 
patiently and with almost unprecedented forbearance submitted 
to many assaults upon the Kves and property of its citizens and has 
suffered mdignities at home and abroad by command of the Im- 



i66 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

penal German Government inconsistent with the comity custom- 
ary between civilized nations at peace with each other; and 

Whereas, The President of the United States has discontmued 
diplomatic relations with Germany because of the declared pur- 
pose of that Government to commit further assaults upon the lives 
and property of our citizens by methods previously admitted by 
that Government to be illegal and since protested by the whole 
dviUzed world as both iUegal and inhuman; now, therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New 
York endorses and commends this action of the President; that it 
assures him of its heartiest and fullest support to whatever steps 
he may deem necessary for the protection of the Uves and property 
of American citizens everywhere when foUowing their lawful pur- 

^\esolvedy That it urges the Government immediately to adopt 
such protective measures as will assure the prompt resumption of 
regular steamship service by American ships engaged in European 
trade, subject to the usual rules of war between dvihzed peoples. 

Resolved, That the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New 
York considers the German note as a menace to the inahenable 
ricrht to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, to estabhsh 
which our forefathers fought and to maintam which the people 
of this country are willing now to fight. 

At its fijrst meeting after the declaration of war with Ger- 
many, the following minute was adopted amid loud and 
general applause, and with a standing vote: 

We, the members of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of 
New York in meeting assembled, reaHzmg the solemmty of this 
occasion, and fuUy conscious of the awfuhiess and sonrows of war, 
hereby declare our beUef that the President of tiie United States 
has exhausted every possible means to avert the compulsion of war 
and that no other course with honor was left to the President and 
Congress but to declare that Germany, by the acts of its Imperial 
Government, was waging war upon the Umted States. 

We hereby declare our f uU and solemn approval of tiie President s 
noble message to Congress, and we individuaUy offer and pledge 
ourselves, our means and our service to tiie support of our Govern- 
ment and in help to our country's needs, in whatsoever manner we 
can be of use, reaUzing that we owe it to posterity to defend and 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 167 

to pass on to it unimpaired the inalienable rights to hfe, liberty 
and the pursuit of happiness which we inherited in trust from our 
Forefathers. 



The Chamber was early in the field with a demand for ac- 
tion in the direction of restricting war profits. In February, 
191 7, it adopted resolutions declaring it to be the duty of 
organizations of business men to aid the government to the 
full extent of their ability and pledging the Chamber's sup- 
port to the "principle that the business men of the country 
shall supply all services, commodities and inventions re- 
quired by the National Government at prices which will 
yield a profit no greater than would be received in similar 
transactions with private customers." 

In March following it took up the question of co-ordinating 
all the utilities of the Port of New York in order to secure 
the largest and best possible service to the National Govern- 
ment in prosecuting the war. The Executive Committee of 
the Chamber sought and obtained the hearty co-operation of 
the Governor of New Jersey in an effort to make the Port of 
New York one great undivided shipping and industrial centre. 
The Legislatures of the States of New York and New Jersey 
passed identical measures providing for the appointment of 
Harbor Development Commissions, and the Governors of 
those States appointed them, each consisting of three mem- 
bers. All of the New York Commissioners were members of 
the Chamber, including the President, and one of the New 
Jersey Commissioners was also a member of the Chamber. 
The two bodies met and formed a Joint Commission. 

Early in November, 1917, the President of the Chamber 
and other members of the Joint Commission went to Wash- 
ington for conference with the Secretary of War, who gave 
their project enthusiastic approval, and with them enlarged 
their Joint Commission into a War Board for the Port of New 
York, with the chairman of the Federal Shipping Board as 



i68 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

chairman. All the members of the Joint Commission were 
retained as members of the War Board, and with them were 
included the Secretaries of War, Navy, Commerce, and Labor, 
the coimsel of the Joint Conunission, the Mayor of New 
York, and a representative of the Railway War Council. The 
total membership was sixteen. 

At the meeting in November, 191 7, the Executive Com- 
mittee made a report on disloyal utterances in which they said 
that they had observed with increasing concern the "con- 
tinued expression of unpatriotic and seditious sentiments in 
public speeches and in print by men in public office in what 
seems to be a total disregard of their fealty to the United 
States," mentioning as the most notable cases those of a 
Senator of the United States and a candidate for Mayor of 
New York, and deploring that although the country had en- 
tered the war six months earlier many avenues of publicity 
were still permitted to disloyal people for the dissemination 
of sentiments harmful to the cause for which the country 
was fighting. The committee proposed resolutions approv- 
ing the action of the Senate in investigating members of its 
own body "known to have spoken and distributed declarations 
inconsistent with their oaths of office and with loyalty to the 
country," urging upon the House of Representatives similar 
action, and recommending to the Departments of Justice in 
Washington, Albany, and New York "a more vigorous prose- 
cution of all those who thus abuse the privilege of citizenship 
or misuse the shelter afforded them by this country." The 
report and resolutions were received with applause and adopted 
imanimously. 



CHAPTER XXXII 
RELIEF AND OTHER FUNDS 

AID FOR PERSONS IN DISTRESS FROM CALAMITIES — ^FUNDS FOR 

THE BENEFIT OF FAMILIES OF DISTINGUISHED PERSONS — 

TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF $3,500,000 

1793-1918 

During virtually its entire career the Chamber has re- 
sponded liberally to all calls for relief to persons in distress 
from great calamities of fire, flood, earthquake, and other 
causes, and has with equal generosity either raised funds 
among its members, or has joined with other persons and or- 
ganizations, in the raising of them for the benefit of the 
families of distinguished persons who have died after eminent 
public service leaving little or no property. The first note- 
worthy act of the kind was performed in July, 1793, when a 
large number of destitute fugitives arrived in the United 
States from San Domingo, having fled from that island to 
escape the hideous consequences of a servile war that was 
raging there. The Chamber appointed a conmiittee to solicit 
contributions for the relief of these sufferers and took the 
lead in obtaining the necessary aid. From that time forward 
its record of generous giving is unbroken. 

Its aid has not been confined to this country, but h<is been 

world-wide in its scope. In 1856, when there were thousands 

of persons suffering from inundations in France, it took action 

at once and sent them liberal aid. When the city of Troy, 

New York, was swept by fire in 1856, a fimd of $15,000 was 

quickly raised and forwarded; and when in the same year 

word was received that there was great suffering among the 

people in Lancashire, England, $150,000 was raised and sent 

there. 

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17© ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

After the city of Savannah had passed into Union hands 
during Sherman's march to the sea, an appeal was made to 
the Chamber for the relief of the city's twenty thousand in- 
habitants who were in want of the necessities of life. The 
appeal was made imder the authority of General Sherman, 
who vouched for the loyalty of the people remaining in the 
dty. A special meeting was held on January 5, 1865, and a 
committee was appointed to solicit contributions of money 
for the purpose. Between that date and February 5, $3S,68i 
was collected, and $8,000 was expended for provisions which 
were taken to Savannah on a steamer that had been offered 
free of charge for the trip. Later other like cargoes were 
sent, about $23,000 in all being expended for provisions. 
The balance of the fund was put to such other uses as the 
situation seemed to make most desirable. 

The action by the Chamber had a double influence for good. 
It relieved existing suffering and helped to soften the prej- 
udices which were the inevitable outcome of the war, by 
showing the people of the South that those of the North had 
only the kindest sentiments toward them. 

In the same year, 1865, another notable contribution was 
sent to the South in the form of $20,000 for the relief of des- 
titute persons in East Tennessee. The record is very full 
after this date, as the following entries by years will show: 



1866. $106,000 for the relief of sufferers from the Portland, 

Maine, fire. 

1870. $15,000 for the relief of the sufferers by the falling of the 

Capitol at Richmond, Virginia. 

1871. $143,000 for the relief of the suffering people of France, 

during and at the close of the Franco-German 

War. 
1871. $1,044,751 for the relief of the sufferers by the great fires 

in Chicago and the Northwest. 
1876. $20,000 for the relief of the sufferers by Yellow Fever in 

Savannah. 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



i7r 



1878. $172,000 for the relief of the sufferers by the Yellow Fever 

in the Southwest. 

1880. $10,000 for the relief of Yellow Fever sufferers in Memphis. 

1886. $89,000 for the relief of sufferers from the Charleston 

(S. C.) earthquake. 

1889. $57,140 for the relief of sufferers from the Johnstown flood. 

1892. $51,520 for the relief of sufferers from famine in Russia. 

1898. $5,403 for the relief of sufferers among the poor in Cuba. 

1 900. $1 21 ,392 for the relief of sufferers from the Galveston flood. 

1902. $109,266 for relief of sufferers from the St. Pierre, Marti- 
nique, earthquake. 

1906. $778,000 for the relief of sufferers from the San Frandsco 

earthquake. 

1909. $29,000 for the relief of sufferers from the Messina, Italy, 

earthquake. 

1913. $54,932 for the relief of sufferers from the Westem floods. 

1916-17. $82,580 for the relief of sufferers in Belgium. 

1917- $5,000 for the relief of sufferers from the explosion in Hali- 
fax, 



All together, the charitable gifts of the Chamber in this 
field have aggregated $3,000,000, nearly all of which has been 
contributed by its members. In addition, as has been men- 
tioned in a previous chapter, it raised from the country at 
large in 1881 a fund of $362,000 for the family of President 
Garfield. A like fimd of $100,000 was raised by it in 1899 ^or 
the family of Colonel George E. Waring, in recognition of his 
great service to the city in establishing an efficient street- 
cleaning system. 

A graceful act in recognition of patriotic services was per- 
formed in 1865. Word was received that the family of the 
late Lieutenant John F. Shubrick, of the navy, living in South 
Carolina, were in such destitute circumstances that they were 
compelled to offer for sale three swords in their possession 
which had been presented to members of the family for dis- 
tinguished service to the country. Two of these swords had 
been presented to Lieutenant Shubrick of the frigate Con- 
stitution for valor displayed in the capture of the British 



II 



172 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

frigate Guerriere and other British vessels in the War of 1812; 
and the third had been presented to his son, also a lieutenant 
in the United States navy, for gallant conduct at Vera Cruz 
and other points during the Mexican war. The Chamber, 
finding that the swords were in need of repair, raised sufficient 
money to restore them to good condition, and returned them 
to the family with a gift of $2,500 "in recognition of the valua- 
ble services rendered to our country by the father and son, 
and as a token that gratitude for fidelity to the flag of the 
Union is an abiding sentiment with the citizens of New York, 
descending from generation to generation." 

The grand total of aid of all kinds extended by the Cham- 
ber exceeds $3,500,000, constituting a record of timely aid 
and generous giving of which the society may be justly proud. 



CHAPTER XXXin 
OFFICIAL AND OTHER DUTIES 

SELECTION AND REGULATION OF PILOTS— WAREHOUSING AND 
seamen's wages — SAILORS' SNUG HARBOR— NAUTICAL 
SCHOOL— sailors' HOTELS OR BOARDING-HOUSES- 
COMMERCIAL EDUCATION 

1791-1918 

In several ways the Chamber has been called upon to co- 
operate in the administration of laws which have been en- 
acted chiefly through its advocacy. Very early in its history, 
December, 1791, it took up the question of securing competent 
and trustworthy pilots for the Port of New York, and for more 
than half a century it agitated the matter without respite. 
Finally, in 1853, a system was established which has worked 
well to the present day. Under a law passed by the State 
Legislature in that year a Board of Commissioners of Pilots 
in the City of New York was created, consisting of five per- 
sons to hold office for two years, three to be elected by the 
Chamber of Commerce, and two by the marine insurance 
companies. 

One of the arduous and useful duties of each succeed- 
ing President of the Chamber is supervision of the charity 
known as the "Sailors' Snug Harbor," situated on Staten 
Island. This was founded by Captain Richard Randall, who 
died in 1801. He left a will by which the income of his residu- 
ary estate consisting of a farm of twenty-one acres, lying be- 
tween Fourth and Fifth Avenues and running from Waverly 
Place to Tenth Street, in New York City, was to be used for 
the erection and maintenance of an asylum or marine hospital, 

173 



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174 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

to be called Sailors' Snug Harbor, for the support of aged, 
decrepit, and worn-out sailors. He named as trustees the 
ChanceUor of the State, the Mayor and Recorder of the city, 
the President of the Chamber of Commerce, the president 
and vice-president of the Marine Society, the rector of 
Trinity Church, and the minister of the First Presbytenan 
Church. The number of trustees has been reduced to six by 
the aboHtion of the State office of ChanceUor and the city of- 
fice of Recorder. There is a tradition that Alexander Hamil- 
ton drew the wiU. It was contested by the heirs of Captain 
RandaU for thirty years, but finally upheld in a decision by 

Chancellor Kent. 

The property had been bought by Captain RandaU for about 
$12,500, and the income from it in 1802 was less than $2,000. 
Sufficient money was not accumulated, because of the law- 
suit expenses, to erect a building tiU 1833, and during that 
year thirty aged and indigent saUors were received. Through 
the granting of ground leases the income from the property 
increased steadily and rapidly, until the present reaUy magnif- 
icent institution was estabUshed. The income from the prop- 
erty is now about $600,000. 

From the beginning, the chief burden of the trust has been 
placed upon the President of the Chamber. It has always 
been the custom for him to be the chairman of the board, 
and as the Mayor seldom or never attends the board's meet- 
ings the President of the Chamber, being an experienced busi- 
ness man, has been selected to take both leadership and re- 

sponsibiUty. ..!.•• 

In 1873, the New York Legislature passed an act authonzmg 
a Nautical School as part of the State system of education and 
charging the Board of Education of the city with the duty of 
organization and responsible control. It also authorized the 
Chamber of Commerce to appoint a committee whose duties 
were to advise and co-operate with the Board of EducaUon, 
visit and examine the school, and make reports to the Chamber, 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 175 

which that body should transmit to the Board of Education 
with recommendations. In May, 1873, the Chamber ac- 
cepted the trust and appointed a committee of seven members 
for the purpose to serve for one year. Later this committee 
was entitled CouncU of the Nautical School. An act was ob- 
tained from Congress empowering the Secretary of the Navy 
to detaU for the use of the school in New York and other sea- 
ports, vessels not needed for other service and authorizing the 
President to detail officers of the navy for service as superin- 
tendents and instructors. In 1874, the ship St, Mary's was 
detaUed for New York and in December of that year the 
school was opened. The Chamber took keen interest in the 
school from the outset, as its object was to train men to 
become officers in the merchant marine. In December, 1876, 
it voted to appropriate annuaUy one hundred and fifty doUars 
for three prizes for pupUs rating the highest, to be known as 
Chamber of Commerce prizes. Committees were appointed 
each year by the Chamber and made annual reports, after 
visiting the school and thoroughly examining its work. This 
system was continued for nearly forty years. 

In 1913, the Chamber, having become convinced that more 
satisfactory results could be obtained by having the school 
placed irnder the control of the State, recommended the pas- 
sage of a law by the Legislature making that transfer, and 
such a law was enacted. It provided for a Board of Gov- 
ernors consisting of the State Commissioner of Education and 
eight appointive members, one each from the membership of 
the foUowing organizations: New York Chamber of Com- 
merce; Maritime Association of New York; Marine Society; 
Alumni Association of the Nautical School; Buffalo Chamber 
of Commerce; Albany Chamber of Commerce, and a New 
York State member of the National Board of Steam Naviga- 
tion. Under the act the State makes an annual appropria- 
tion for the support of the school. Young men from aU 
parts of the State are eUgible as pupils. The Chamber chose 



176 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

as its first representative on the Board of Governors, Com- 
modore Jacob W. Miller, who had for many years served as 
chairman of the Coimdl. He was elected chairman of the 

new board. 

Since 1904 the Chamber has appomted three of its mem- 
bers to serve on a joint commission for the regulation of 
warehouses in which unclaimed goods are placed in storage 
by the government. This joint commission is composed of 
representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, Merchants' 
Association, Bonded Warehousemen, and the Collector of the 
Port. Its duties are to fix the rates for cartage, labor, and the 
storage of goods, for the protection of the consignee from 
overcharges of all kinds. 

Under a State law of 1866 there is a Board of Commis- 
sioners for licensing sailors' hotels or boarding-houses in New 
York City, which is composed of one member from each of the 
following organizations: Chamber of Commerce; American 
Seaman's Friend Society; Board of Underwriters; Marine 
Society; Society for Promoting the Gospel among Seamen 
in the Port of New York; Maritime Association; Seamen's 
Church Institute; Seamen's Christian Association, and St. 
Peter's Union for Catholic Seamen. The duties of the board 
are to grant licenses for sailors' hotels or boarding-houses, 
after obtaining satisfactory evidence of the respectability 
and competency of the applicants and the suitableness of the 
accoromodations. The act was passed to safeguard sailors 
in such lodging-places, and the board administers it in such 
manner as to insure respectability in the management and 
to protect the sailors from extortion and mistreatment of all 
kinds. The license fee is twenty-five dollars a year. The 
actual expenses of the board are deducted from the receipts 
from licenses, and whatever balance remains is applied for 
the relief of shipwrecked and destitute sailors. As the board 
is managed economically, a considerable sum is available 
each year for relief purposes. 
For many years the Chamber has taken an active and 




ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 
Painted by John Trumbull in 1792- Collection of the Chamber of Commerce. 






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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 177 

earnest interest in the subject of commercial education, and 
after long and careful consideration of the subject a plan was 
evolved in 1913 for the establishment of a College of Com- 
merce and Administration, and a Museum of Commerce and 
Civics. The idea was the outcome of the visit of the Cham- 
ber's delegation to London in 1901, during which the dele- 
gates investigated the results which had been accomplished 
by an institution of the kind connected with the London 
Chamber of Commerce in the direction of the better training 
of young men for business pursuits. A special committee 
was appointed in 191 1 to make an investigation and report, 
and through its labors $500,000 was pledged by an anony- 
mous donor for the establishment of a College of Commerce. 
To this sum was added further pledges of $50,000 each from 
four persons as a fund of $200,000 for a Museum of Commerce 
and Civics. It was proposed by the Chamber that the con- 
templated institution should be under the joint auspices of 
the city, the College of the City of New York, and the Cham- 
ber of Commerce; that the old site of the City College, at 
Lexington Avenue and 23d Street, should be provided by the 
city for the purpose; that the Chamber of Commerce should 
furnish the sum of $500,000 for a building and a fund of $200,- 
000 for the establishment of the museum; and that the city 
should equip the building, maintain the college, and pay the 
running expenses of the museum. The college and museiun 
were to be administered by a Board of Trustees, consisting of 
representatives of the city, the City College, and the Chamber 
of Commerce. 

The consent of the City College trustees was obtained and 
a contract was drawn up and submitted to the Board of 
Estimate and Apportionment of the city for approval in 1914. 
After long delays and many conferences, followed by much 
correspondence, it became apparent that the consent of the 
Board of Estimate and Apportionment could not be secured 
because of the belief of its members that the condition of the 



178 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

city's finances did not permit of any increase in the expense 
of maintaining the city's educational facilities. 

Despairing of obtaining a favorable response from the 
city authorities, the special committee recommended, in 
January, 1915, that the donors of the two fimds of seven him- 
dred thousand dollars be released from their pledges. This 
was adopted and the project was abandoned, but a standing 
Committee of Conamercial Education was appointed and un- 
der its guidance the Chamber is continuing its efforts to se- 
cure desirable results through co-operation with the city's 
Board of Education. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 
BANQUETS IN THE EARLY DAYS * 

FINES UPON ABSENTEES — ^DISTINGUISHED GUESTS INVITED — 
ANNUAL BANQUETS ESTABLISHED AS A PERMANENT 

INSTITUTION IN 1 873 

I769-1805 

At the end of its first year the Chamber was in so flour- 
ishing a condition that its members voted to celebrate the 
occasion with a "Publick Dinner in the Chamber, at the 
expense of each member, absent members to pay five shillings." 
As no mention is made in the minutes of the price that mem- 
bers in attendance were to pay, the inference has been drawn 
that the entire cost of the feast was defrayed by the absentees. 
If this was the case it is not surprising, especially since the 
fine was subsequently raised to eight shillings, that the 
absentees protested and sought to have the practice abolished 
in 1772, but were defeated by the narrow margin of one vote. 
No record of subsequent opposition appears. 

The scope of the second annual banquet was greatly en- 
larged by sending invitations to the Lieutenant-Governor; 
the Council and members of the General Assembly; Secre- 
taries of the Council; the Commander-in-Chief of His Maj- 
esty's forces, General Gage, and his suite; the Captains of 
His Majesty's ships in the harbor, the principal Customs 
officers, and the Mayor of the city — about forty in all. No 
mention of this or any other of the annual banquets appears 
in the public prints of the day, and there is no record of the 
number in attendance at any of them. The invitation of 
civil and military officials became an established custom. 
For the third banquet, in 1771, four members of the Chamber 

179 



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i8o ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

were appointed stewards to "provide a Genteel Dinner," 
and were directed to wait upon Lord Dunmore, the newly 
arrived Governor, and ask him when it would be convenient 
for him to do them the honor of dining with the Chamber. 
Invitations were sent to the same public officials and others 
that were invited a year earlier. 

There were, presumably, toasts and speeches at these 
feasts, but as no reports were published in the newspapers and 
no records of the proceedings included in the minutes, an esti- 
mate of the oratorical abilities of those in attendance cannot 
be attempted. 

The custom of an annual dinner was observed quite regularly 
till 1773, when they were abandoned because of the steadily 
increasing excitement caused by the approaching Revolution. 
None were held by the loyalist Chamber during that period. 
As has been noted, the feasting which marked the return of 
General Washington aad the American army was not associ- 
ated with the Chamber as an organization, but soon after its 
reorganization as an American society, it seems to have re- 
sumed its interest in fxmctions of the kind. 

At an adjourned meeting of the Chamber, on January 20, 
1785, it was ordered that the "President be requested to in- 
vite Congress to dine with the Board at the Merchants' 
Coffee House, on Thursday the 3d of February next," and a 
committee was appointed to "prepare a proper set of toasts 
and to make such other arrangements as may be necessary." 
At a meeting on February i it was agreed unanimously that 
"every member pay his Quoto of the expense of the Dinner 
to be given to Congress on Thursday next." 

There was no mention of the President as having been in- 
cluded in the invitation, but in the newspapers of February 
4 the banquet was spoken of as a "Dinner given by the 
Chamber of Commerce to His Excellency the President and 
the Honourable members of Congress." This was notable as 
the first dinner given in honor of the Government of the 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 181 

United States. There is no record in the minutes of the 
Chamber of the cost of the dinner, but some indirect light on 
the subject is thrown by an entry on April 5 stating that "Mr. 
Bradford of the Coffee House presented a bill of 6 pounds 
6 shillings, the same being the proportion of three members 
(named) of the expense of entertaining Congress." 

In June, 1787, it was proposed that the members of the 
Chamber should dine together on July 4 at Bradford's Coffee 
House. A member called attention to the fact that there 
were other gentlemen, not members of the Chamber, who had 
previously determined to dine at the Coffee House on that 
occasion, and suggested that it would "probably be more 
agreeable to the whole to invite either the Chamber to them 
or them to the Chamber so as to form but one body, animated 
by the same soul." This was agreed to, and the following 
advertisement was inserted in the newspapers: 

The Corporation of the Chamber of Commerce intend dining 
at Bradford's Coffee House, on Wednesday, 4th July next. Such 
of the members as mean to join the Festive Board, are requested 
to leave their names at the Bar, on or before Monday evening. 
Gentlemen, not members of the Chamber, who wish to unite in 
the Celebration of that memorable day, are desired to give similar 
notice of their Intention. 

It was thought that "Fifteen Shillings each, would, with 
Economy, probably be adequate for the expense of the Enter- 
tainment." 

There are no records to show that the Fourth of July ban- 
quets became a regular institution. One was held in 1791, 
and Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, was in- 
vited to partake of it, a committee having been appointed to 
"obtain suitable entertainment at the city tavern," the new 
name of the coffee-house of which Mr. Bradford had been the 
proprietor. Whether Hamilton accepted the invitation, or 
whether the banquet took place, there is no record to show. 



i82 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

On October 3, 1797, the Chamber appointed a committee to 
"prepare a dinner in honor of the President of the United 
States, to be given him on his return to the seat of Govern- 
ment, and make such arrangements on the occasion as may 
appear to them proper." No record of this feast, if it took 
place, is extant. For 1798 two banquets are recorded: one 
in May, "a Public dinner at the Tontine Coffee House for the 
Merchants in general of the city," and one on July 4, for 
"members of the Chamber and such of their fellow citizens 
as may be disposed to join them at such place as may be 
thought suitable." 

The only dinner given for many years after this time was 
one in 1805 to Captain Edward Preble, the commander of the 
successful naval expedition against Morocco and Tripoli, in 
1803-1804. The eleven years interregnum in the sessions of 
the Chamber between 1806 and 181 7 put an end to the annual 
banquets for many years, and it was not till 1873 that they 
were resumed and re-established as a permanent institution. 
With this resiunption the Chamber may be said to have en- 
tered upon a new and most valuable field of public enlighten- 
ment and usefulness. In the old days the annual and other 
banquets exerted no public influence, as their proceedings were 
not reported in the newspapers. The later series was begun 
in a different era of publicity. From the outset the modem 
annual banquet became a recognized forum of public opinion 
and information. The leading public men of the day, includ- 
ing often the President of the United States and members of 
the Cabinet, recognized in the occasion a fitting and desirable 
opportunity for the utterance of official views, plans, and 
policies which they desired to bring to the public attention. 
The Governor of the State; Mayor of the city; Senators and 
Representatives in Congress; Ambassadors to foreign coun- 
tries, either on leave from their posts or recently returned 
from them at the close of service; distinguished foreign visi- 
tors; diplomatic representatives of foreign countries; high 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 183 

dignitaries of the Church; leaders of the bar; the foremost 
orators of the day— in short, men of mark and influence in 
the affairs of the world were frequent guests and instructive 

sp>eakers. 

For forty-five years the annual banquet has been usually 
the most notable event in the commercial, political, and social 
life of the city, and its influence, extendmg as it has through- 
out the country, has given it the proportions and dignity of 
a national institution. Not merely one large volume but 
several volumes could be made from the utterances at these 
feasts during this period, and they would constitute valuable 
and illuminating, if not comprehensive, history of the period. 
The extracts which are reproduced in following pages have 
been selected either because of their historical value and hence 
worthy of preservation, or because of some other quality 
which gives them permanent interest. 



i 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 185 



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CHAPTER XXXV 
EARLIEST OF THE MODERN BANQUETS 

SPEECH BY WILLIAM M. EVARTS — PRESIDENT HAYES AND OTHER 

DISTINGUISHED GUESTS — YORKTOWN ANNIVERSARY — 

GENERAL GRANT ON HYPHENATED AMERICANS 

1873-1883 

The first banquet of the series on May i, 1873, <lemon- 
strated at once the usefuhiess of the institution. There were 
about two hundred persons present, and among the dis- 
tinguished guests were William M. Evarts, Mayor Opdyke, 
General Winfield S. Hancock, and M. Wakayama, a repre- 
sentative of the Treasury Department of Japan, who was 
visiting the United States at the time. Mr. Evarts, who for 
many succeeding years was one of the favorite orators at these 
gatherings, delivered an impressive address in which he spoke 
of the important part which merchants had played in our 
history, saying that "Commerce and the merchants who for- 
merly represented commerce, had much to do— Everything to 
do — ^with the promotion of the present National Government." 
"One tithe," he declared, "of the energy and public spirit 
by which a few merchants in disguise threw the tea over- 
board in Boston harbor, will enable us to throw overboard 
from the Ship of State a great many incumbrances that are 
unsatisfactory and disagreeable. We in our coimtry seem to 
have assumed that good government, secured by the merits 
of our ancestors, was as permanent a possession of our race 
as all the good gifts of cKmate and a grateful soil; but we still 
find that all that freedom can do for man, and all that the in- 
stitutions of freedom can do for men, is to enable them, 
possessing the spirit and courage of freemen, to defend them- 
selves against aggression at home and abroad." 

184 



Henry Wilson, Vice-President, and Mayor Havemeyer 
were among the guests in 1874, and in 1876 there was a 
notable assemblage of eminent persons, including Governor 
Tilden; Edwards Pierrepont, Attorney-General of the United 
States; John Bigelow; Charles O'Connor; Joseph H. Choate; 
Judge Brady; Ex-Governor John A. Dix, and General Horace 
Porter. President Hayes was the chief guest of honor in 
1877, and with him were two members of his Cabinet, Mr. 
Evarts, Secretary of State, and Carl Schurz, Secretary of 
the Interior. Other guests were General W. T. Sherman; 
General W.S. Hancock; Hugh McCuUoch, Ex-Secretary of 
the Treasury; Mayor Ely; the Reverend Doctor R. S. Storrs, 
and David A. Wells. The national character of the banquets 
is revealed in this list as being established on a firm foun- 
dation. President Hayes made no formal speech, merely 
uttering a few words of thanks and expressing pleasure in 
being present. 

At the banquet of May 13, 1879, there was an imposing 
array of distinguished guests, including Andrew D. White, 
American Minister to Berlin; Joseph H. Choate; the Rev- 
erend Doctor H. C. Potter; the Reverend Doctor H. W. 
Bellows, and Senator James G. Blaine. The Senator was 
called upon unexpectedly for a speech on the "Revival of 
American Shipping and Commerce," and in the course of it 
he paid a handsome tribute to the society by saying: "If I 
speak with the voice of the Chamber of Commerce of New 
York, I know that I speak with a voice far mightier than any 
that has been raised in Congress, and I have it to declare 
that if it be the will of that Chamber and of the people to 
institute a policy for the revival of American commerce, then 

it is done." 

John Sherman, Secretary of the Treasury, was the guest of 
honor in 1880, and made an informing speech upon the 
finances of the nation and the administration's policy in regard 
to them. Other guests were Mayor Edward Cooper and the 



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i86 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

Reverend Robert CoUyer. Two members of President Gar- 
field's Cabinet, William Windom, Secretary of the Treasury, 
and Thomas L. James, Postmaster-General, with Levi P. 
Morton, American Minister to France, were guests of honor 
in May, 1881. 

In addition to the annual dinner in May, 1881, a special 
banquet was given by the Chamber in honor of the guests of 
the nation who had arrived in the country to attend the 
centennial celebration of the victory at Yorktown. The 
visitors were mainly from France and included descendants of 
Lafayette, Rochambeau, Coimt de Grasse, and others who 
had come to the aid of the American colonies in their struggle 
for independence, and of the Baron de Steuben, who had 
rendered like service. Through the aid thus rendered, vic- 
tory had been achieved at Yorktown, causing Washington to 
say on the morning of the Yorktown victory that because of 
it the American people owed to France the "most imalterable 
gratitude." The Chamber, deeply sensible of this lasting 
obligation, took steps while the distinguished visitors were 
still on their way to the United States, to prepare a suitable 
tribute of respect and honor to them, recalling the Treaty of 
Alliance with France in 1778, and declaring that the friend- 
ship pledged by France at that time had been "faithfully and 
honorably maintained for more than a century." 

A banquet was decided upon as the most desirable form in 
which to show the visitors honor, and one was given at Del- 
monico's on the evening of November 5. The dining-hall on 
the occasion was decorated with flowers, flags, and festoons 
of evergreens. The flags of the United States and France 
were draped in groups over American shields around the 
walls. There were two hundred and fifty persons present, 
including thirty-five French delegates, many of whom were 
descendants of Lafayette and the other French officers of the 
Revolution, and six descendants of the Baron de Steuben, 
all of whom bore his name. Brief speeches were made by a 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 187 

descendant of Rochambeau for the French guests, and by a 
descendant of Steuben for his associates, and there were formal 
addresses by the Reverend Doctor Richard S. Storrs, William 
M. Evarts, A. A. Low, Carl Schurz, and John Austin Stevens. 
Perhaps the most notable contribution of the evening was 
made by Mr. Evarts who spoke to a toast on the treaty of 
1778. "It was a very great thing," he said, "for France to 
make the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and 
Commerce with a nation that, as yet, had received no accep- 
tance from the Powers of the earth. And when we remember 
that France, in the contests of a thousand years, had found 
England no unequal match in the quarrels that belonged to 
the two nations, I must think that human history has shown 
nothing nobler than her espousal of this growing struggle be- 
tween these colonists and the great power of England. How # 
much nearer France was to England than we! How much 
wider her possessions through the world, open to the thunder 
of the British navy and the prowess of the British army! 
And when France, in a treaty, the equal terms of which will 
strike every reader with wonder, speaks of 'the common 
cause,' to be pursued until the result of our complete inde- 
pendence, governmental and conmiercial, was attained, I 
know nothing, in the way of ' the bearing the burdens of one 
another,' enjoined as the Christian spirit, that is greater than 
this stupendous action of France." 

The banquet of May, 1883, was distinguished by a brief 
but forcible speech by General Grant which, read at the pres- 
ent time, has an extraordinarily close application to conditions 
growing out of our participation in the European War. "We 
have witnessed," he said, "on many occasions here the for- 
eign, the adopted, citizen claiming rights and privileges be- 
cause he was an adopted citizen. That is all wrong," he 
continued, " let him come here and enjoy all the privileges that 
we enjoy, but let him fulfil all the obligations that we are 
expected to fulfil. After he has adopted it, let this be his 



«■/»*-»■,»_. -*■» «i 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



hi 



If 



country — a country that he will fight for and die for if neces- 
sary. I am glad to say that the great majority of them do it, 
but some of them, who mingle in politics, seem to bank largely 
on the fact that they are adopted citizens; and that class I 
am opposed to as much as I am opposed to many other 
things that I see that are popular now." 



I 



CHAPTER XXXVI 
STATUE OF LIBERTY BANQUETS 

SPEECHES BY FREDERIC R. COUDERT— LETTER FROM 

A. BARTHOLDI 

1885-1886 

The Chamber gave two banquets in connection with the 
gift of the Statue of Liberty which rank among the most 
sumptuous and interesting of its long series. The first was 
at Dehnonico's on the evening of June 24, 1885, and was in 
honor of the commander and officers of the French national 
ship Isere, which brought the statue from France, and Ad- 
miral Lacombe, of the French flag-ship La Flore. The ad- 
dress of welcome was made in French by Frederic R. Coudert, 
then a leader of the New York bar, and one of the most de- 
lightful and eloquent orators that the city has ever produced. 
Turning to the guests, he said: " Gentlemen, you are welcome I 
Welcome, because you bring us a souvenir of a beloved land — 
welcome, because you revive in our hearts splendid memories 
and kindly emotions. The great dead live again to-day by 
yoiu: presence. How many heroes of the past come back to 
take their seats among us, full of grace, of life, of strength, of 
courage ! A century disappears, and we hold out our hands 
to you as in those days of hard-earned triumph, and cry out: 
* You are our friends; our country is your country; our glory 
is your glory; honor to you; honor to your mother over the 
sea. May she be happy and blest among the nations!'" 
Alluding to the Frenchmen who came to America to aid in the 
Revolution as "knights of prowess," Mr. Coudert proceeded, 
with his inimitable Ughtness of touch, to delight the assem- 
blage by saying: "They resisted everything; all dangers, 
fire and sword, American winters, and even American tea and 

189 



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190 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

American cooking. How much they suffered from the inflic- 
tion of these two instruments of torture, and how nobly they 
endured the infliction, will never be more than imperfectly 
known. Yet there is enough to show that their sufferings 
were not light. One unfortunate warrior, writmg to his 
friends at home, describes the punishment inflicted upon him- 
self under the guise of tea, and relates how, driven beyond 
endurance on one occasion, he turned pleasantly to his hostess 
and said: 'Madame, if your servant makes me drink anymore 
hot water I will tell hun to go to hekr I have a notion that 
some of their enthusiasm for the American cause is traceable 
to the knowledge that one of the first acts of rebellion on the 
part of the colonies was to throw a large quantity overboard 
into Boston harbor. How cheerfully they would have joined 
in the operation, and how gladly repeated it, we may conjec- 
ture." 

Brief replies were made by Admiral Lacombe and Com- 
mander De Saune of the Isere, and Mr. Evarts paid a unique 
tribute to the latter by saying: "As for Commandant De 
Saune, he has done what in the history of the world— K)ur 
modem world, at least— no nation, no ruler has successfully 
attempted; he has kept 'Liberty EnHghtening the World' 
under the hatches for thirty days. It was tried in England, 
and 'Liberty Enlightemng the World' cut off the head of the 
King. Tried again, it drove the dynasty of the Stuarts for- 
ever from that free island. In France they tried to suppress it, 
and it uprooted the ancient monarchy and scattered the 
forces which were expected to repress it. The milder form 
of a limited monarchy even, France would not submit to as a 
repression of Liberty. And, again, twice over, under the 
Imperial Government, 'Liberty Enlightening the World' has 
broken out from under the hatches." 

Another speaker was General Horace Porter, a familiar 
and always welcome guest at the Chamber's banquets. A 
brief quotation from his remarks will not be uninteresting. 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 191 

"A few years ago," he said, "distinguished military men from 
abroad came here to participate in the celebration of the one 
hundredth anniversary of the surrender of Yorktown by Lord 
Cornwallis. There were invited here by the Government the 
descendants of all the distinguished foreigners who partici- 
pated in that historical event, except the descendants of 
Lord Cornwallis, and if our French guests had been here then, 
and had gone down and seen Yorktown, they would not have 
wondered that Cornwallis gave up that place; their only 
astonishment would have been why he consented to remain 
there as long as he did." 

When on October 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty was dedi- 
cated with impressive ceremonies, the Chamber gave a ban- 
quet to the distinguished guests attending the exercises on the 
evening of the day. There were about two hundred and 
forty persons in attendance, including the prominent mer- 
chants, bankers, and business men of the city. Among the 
French guests was Count Ferdinand de Lesseps. The ad- 
dress of welcome was again made in French by Frederic R. 
Coudert, and speeches were made in the same language 
by several of the French representatives. George William 
Curtis responded to the toast "Washington and Lafayette," 
and aroused great enthusiasm by saying at the close of his 
speech: "In Washington, Lafayette saw America as we see 
yonder statue in the bay — calm, regnant, self-possessed — a 
mighty figure of Liberty, standing on the western shore, lift- 
ing to the stars a light as glorious as their own, because herald- 
ing the peaceful federation of the world; and he went home to 
teach revolutionary France to light her torch at the inex- 
tinguishable fires of constitutional liberty. This, at last, 
his native land has done; and republican France to-day is 
the political child of Washington, and the dream of Lafayette 
fulfilled. And as the glory of republican liberty more and more 
enlightens the world, it is a glory in which the name of Lafay- 
ette will be inseparable from that of Washington." 



11 : 



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192 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

A brief speech was made by the author of the statue, A. 
Bartholdi, who responded to the toast: "Jupiter one day had 
a severe headache; Vulcan opened his head with aii_ axe; 
Minerva came forth fuUy armed." " I see," he said, m the 
title of this toast that Jupiter was fortunate enough to give 
birth to Minerva with a plain little headache. I am obUged 
to confess that my headache has been somewhat longer I 
have now had that headache for about fifteen years; and if 
I had not received the most kindly and beneficent support I 
beUeve that no axe would have opened my head enough to 
bring out the Statue of Liberty." ^ , . . , , 

That the representatives of France appreaated highly 
the courtesies extended to them by the Chamber w^ shown in 
a gratifying manner in 1887, when a very rare and beautiful 
Sevres vase, which is one of the highly prized possessions of 
the society, was presented to it accompanied by the sub- 
joined letter: 

Paris, April 15, 1887. 
Mr President: The members of the French delegation, at the 
Inauguration of the Statue of Liberty, have been, smce their re- 
Hf^shing to present you with the expression of thar grate- 
ful feelines for vour splendid and hearty reception. 

I was on^^ near the begimiing of this year that a full meetmg 
of till delegation could take place, and these gent emen have re- 
au^4i the French Government to grant them the disposal of 
SlsTs from the Sevres National Manufactory to accompany 
fhf^ PYnre<;sioii of their kind souvenir. 

Th?Sit intended for your honorable society wiU reach you 
through the care of the French Consul in New York. Our present, 
Sthstanding the real value of aU that is produced by the cele- 
braTedkLStitution, is merely, considering all that you have done for 
uraveTi^odest token of our friendship; but we beg you to look 
at it, as it were, a plam "carte de visite," and to on ly thmk of the 
feeliAes attached to it— our sincere thoughts of gratitude. 

Se t^belhe interpreter of these feelings before your most 
honSle society, and assure them of the grateful remembrance 
fdt by all the members of the delegation. 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 193 

To the foregoing I would join the assurance of my personal 
devotion, and remain, Mr. President, yours respectfully, on behalf 
of the French delegation. 

(Signed) A. Bartholdi. 

To the President of the Chamber of Commerce^ New York. 



CHAPTER XXXVII 
JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN CHIEF GUEST OF HONOR 

SPEECHES BY HIM AND BY L. Q. C. LAMAR, SECRETARY OF 

THE INTERIOR 

1887 

The annual dinner of 1887 was made memorable by the 
presence of the Right Honorable Joseph Chamberlain, who 
was in the country at the time as the special commissioner of 
the British Government to bring about a settlement of the 
fisheries controversy between the United States and Canada. 
There was in the country at the same time a Peace Com- 
mission, including three members of the British Parliament, 
who bore to the President of the United States and to Con- 
gress a message of Christian peace and good-will from two 
hundred and fifty members of the British House of Commons 
and fifty members of the House of Lords. These were also 
guests of honor at the banquet. There was a large attendance 
of prominent citizens of all occupations and professions. A 
letter of regret was read from President Cleveland, and two 
members of his Cabinet, Charles S. Fairchild, Secretary of 
the Treasury, and L. Q. C. Lamar, Secretary of the Interior, 

were present. 

Secretary Lamar responded to the toast to "The President" 
and in doing so cited at the outset two verbal messages of gen- 
uine Cleveland quality that the President had given him. 
The first was: "Remind the gentlemen of the New York 
Chamber of Commerce that the two great causes which origi- 
nated the Convention which adopted the present Federal Con- 
stitution were, first, the necessity of a national executive to 
represent the united sovereignty of this great Republic; and, 

194 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 195 

second, the necessity of a national supervision, protection, 
and regulation of the national commerce with foreign nations, 
and between the States of the Union." 

The second was: "Say to the gentlemen of conrnaerce, also, 
that the Government of the people should reflect the same 
sturdy virtue and industry which lie at the foundation of the 
people's success and prosperity, and that you, gentlemen of the 
New York Chamber of Commerce, can contribute no little to 
that important result by exacting of your national Govern- 
ment the observance of the same methods, and the exercise 
of the same qualities which have enabled you to do so much 
for your proud metropolis, and to support a Government en- 
deavoring to reach those standards with your characteristic 
firmness of purpose and energy of action, so that a business 
Government and a business people may go hand in hand to- 
gether." 

Secretary Lamar then asked the privilege "which we South- 
ern men enjoy upon occasions like the present" of offering a 
volunteer toast as follows: "The New York Chamber of 
Commerce: the representative of a class of American citizens 
held in high and honorable estimation all over the United 
States." In concluding, the Secretary said: "It has been said 
by an English poet, that 'Commerce is the golden girdle of 
the globe.' See to it, gentlemen, that that link which Ameri- 
can commerce contributes to this friendly bond shall be of 
pure gold, worked with industry, strong in the honesty of its 
substance, symbolizing by its weight, its brilliancy, and its 
solidity, the character of the men who wrought it." 

Mr. Chcimberlain was very happy in his address. "I will 
promise you, for myself," he said, " that I do not ask you to be- 
come men of peace 'at any price.' And I will go further, and 
assure you that I do not look forward to any settlement of 
the question which we have to discuss which shall give undue 
advantage to either party. I do not think that it is at all 
likely that I can gain such an advantage in a discussion with 



196 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

the representatives of the shrewdest race in the world. If I 
could gain it, I would not attempt to do it; because I am per- 
fectly convinced that it is not now the interest of any great 
nation to make a settlement which is not permanent and satis- 
factory to all the parties concerned." 

A moment later in his speech Mr. Chamberlain gave a 
striking illustration of the facility of English statesmen in 
quotation: 

Mr. Secretary Lamar, in his concluding observations, quoted 
a line from an English poet. I cannot help completing the quota- 
tion, because I think it particularly apposite to the view which I 
have been endeavoring to impress upon you. The quotation is 
from the poet Cowper, who says: 

"The band of commerce is designed 
To associate all the branches of mankind, 
And if a boundless plenty be the robe, 
Trade is the golden girdle of the globe." 

Gentlemen, I have no doubt that considerations of this kind 
will weigh heavily in any controversy between Great Britain and 
the United States; for, in spite of all the obstacles which politicians 
have contrived to interpose to free intercourse, it still remains the 
fact, that the two countries are the greatest customers, one of the 
other. At the present moment one-skth of the whole foreign trade 
of the United Kingdom and more than one-tenth of our total ex- 
port business is transacted with the United States, and on the 
other hand, considerably more than one-half of your total exports 
find a market in the United Kingdom. Is it not true, then, to 
say, under such circumstances, that we have both '' given hostages 
to fortune," and that we cannot afford the luxury of a quarrel? 
No, gentlemen, our sentiments and our interests aUke combine 
to cement the ties which kinship and our common origin have 
contributed to establish. 

Speeches were also made by Abram S. Hewitt, then Mayor 
of the city, George William Curtis, and James C. Carter. 




GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Painted by Gilbert Stuart. Collection uf the Chamber of Commerce. 



] 



CHAPTER XXXVin 
GOLDWIN SMITH CHIEF GUEST OF HONOR 

GENERAL SHERMAN ON "LOYALTY TO THE FLAG" — CLEVE- 



(C 



LAND ON WHAT TO DO WITH EX-PRESmENTS " 

1888-1889 

In the autumn of 1888 Goldwin Smith was in the United 
States in the interest of a settlement of the fisheries question 
between this country and Canada, and he and General W. T. 
Sherman were the chief guests of honor at the banquet in 
November of that year. General Sherman, who spoke first, 
gave evidence that he had few Democratic sympathies. 
"There has never been since the creation of the earth," he 
declared, "stronger evidence of the virtue of any nation than 
in the fact that four years ago the people of the United States 
elected to the Chief Magistracy one who took into the national 
council and sent abroad as representatives of our country 
men who a few years before had fought against us, and yet 
the people submitted to this without a whimper. This is 
now changed. Now, the people have chosen a man of my 
own style and stamp, and I, for one, say openly that I am 
glad of it. I am not only proud of Ben Harrison as one of 
my soldier boys, but am glad to know that no man shall 
represent that flag in foreign lands but one who in the day 
and hour of danger was true to it." 

Goldwin Smith spoke to the toast, "Our Relations with 
Canada." He advocated commercial imion between the 
United States and Canada, and in beginning his remarks said: 
"As you have some gentlemen among you whose delight it 
is to twist the tail of the lion, so we have some whose delight 
it is to twitch the feathers of the eagle, but their number is 

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198 OiV£ HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

smaU though they take care that the pubUc shaU not over- 
look their existence. The imperial bird, probably, feels it as 
httle as the royal beast. Both sets know pretty weU that 
nothing serious will ever happen, and that they are not likely 
ever to be called upon to face the shot." Touching upon one 
aspect of union not often thought of, he said: "Why, there are 
a million of Canadians already on the south of the line; peo- 
ple who swagger about iron-clads forget that they would be 
bombarding their own sons and brothers. As to the Fisheries 
question, I beUeve you will agree with me, that if diplomacy 
cannot settie it soon and amicably, the pay of the diplomatists 
ought to be stopped." In regard to commercial umon, he 
made these statements: "Observe that the principle of Com- 
mercial Union appUes merely to the internal trade of the 
continent. We do not raise the general question between 
protection and free trade, which divided your poUtical parties 
in the recent election. We do not meddle with the seaboard 
tariff otherwise than for the purpose of assimilation. We 
only say a line of custom-houses drawn across this continent, 
whether between New York and Pennsylvania or between 
New York and Ontario, is, on any hypothesis, a nuisance, and 

ought to be removed." 

Congressman S. S. (Sunset) Cox, an inveterate joker, was 
also one of the speakers and contributed this historical m- 
formation about the Smith family: "Why, in the early days 
of Grecian history, they were demigods and founders of 
States. The only place where they were not recorded is in 
Samuel-the chapter and verse I will not recall, as I am not 
certain about them. But it will not hurt you to search for 
the verse yourselves from Genesis to Revelations. The 
words are: 'There was no smith in aU Israel.' Whenever 
the children of Israel wanted to sharpen their spears, or poUsh 
their ploughshares or cutlasses, or close up the rivets m their 
armor, they had to go down to Tyre or Sidon, and call m the 
smiths of that locality. In the early chronicles of Norseland, 






V 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 199 

it is said the Smiths were honored by being admitted to the 
royal presence. They drank mead with the king I never 
saw a Smith in my life who would ever refuse to take a dnnk. 
It mattered not what kind of liquor." 

There was an unusually large number of distinguished guests 
at the banquet on November 29, 1889, including Ex-President 
Cleveland, General Sherman, E. J. Phelps, ex-American minis- 
ter to England; Justice Miller of the United States Supreme 
Court- Secretary Noble of President Harrison's Cabmet; 
Cart Schurz, C^neral O. O. Howard, and the Earl of Meath. 
Mr. Cleveland, who had recently been elected an Honorary 
Member of the Chamber, and who had retired from the 
Presidency in March preceding, was in a jovial moodand 
made a speech which has genuine historical value. There 
has been much discussion lately," he said, "concermng the 
disposition which should be made of our Ex-Presidents; and 
many plans have been suggested for putting us out of the 
way. I am sure we are very sorry to make so much trouble, 
but I do hope that whatever conclusion may be reached, the 
recommendation of a Kentucky newspaper editor, to take us 
out and shoot us, wiU not be adopted. Prior to the 4th day 
of last March I did not appreciate as well as I do now the 
objections to this proceeding, but I have had time to reflect 
upon the subject since, and I find excellent reasons for op- 
posing this plan. If I should be allowed to express myself 
upon this question, I would suggest that the best way to deal 
with your troublesome Ex-Presidents is to let them alone, 
and give them the same chance to earn an honest living that 
other people have. And if for any reason you desire to honor 
them it cannot be done better than by putting their names 
upon'the roll of honorary membership of the New York Cham- 
ber of Commerce." 

Mr. Phelps spoke of the fact that the banquet was m cele- 
bration of the Chamber's one hundred and twenty-first anni- 
versary, saying there were very few institutions of any sort 



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200 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

in this country which could extend to their friends the hos- 
pitalities of their hundred and twenty-first year, and added: 
"Such an institution indicates something more than the flight 
of time. It has memories and traditions worthy to be cher- 
ished. It has had its struggles and won its victories, and has 
left its mark on its time for good. I congratulate you that 
it shows no signs of decrepitude or decay; that it has not de- 
generated in its quality nor diminished in its influence. The 
present unites with the past in assuring us that when another 
hundred and twenty years shall have gone, it will still remain 
what it is to-day, the dignified representative of the great 
business and the great interests of the greatest American city.'' 



CHAPTER XXXIX 
FINANCIAL CRISIS OF 1890 

SERVICES RENDERED BY MERCHANTS-PRESIDENT ELIOT ON 

HARVARD GRADUATES-LAST APPEARANCE AND SPEECH 

OF GENERAL SHERMAN--G. W. CURTIS ON 

WASHINGTON IRVING 

1890 

The banquet of 1890 was one of the largest yet held by the 
Chamber, the number of appUcations exceeding t^e capaaty 
of DehnJnico's dining-hall. Among the distmgmshed guests 
were Ex-President Cleveland, Carl Schurz, General Sherman, 
General Schofield, George WilUam Curtis, President Charles 
W EUot of Harvard University, and Bishop H. C. Potter. 

Unusual interest attached to the gathering because it fol- 
lowed close upon a serious financial crisb which had been pr.^ 
cipitated by the suspension of Baring Brothers m London, 
and which had been met and arrested by the action of New 
York merchants and bankers in issuing clearing-house certif- 
icates Furthermore, there had been passed at the session 
of Congress, recently ended, the McKinley tariff bill reduc- 
ing the revenues $50,000,000; a new pension biU c^g for 
an additional expenditure of $50,000,000, and the Sherman 
silver bill, authorizing the purchase of 4,500,000 ounces of 
silver monthly for the avowed purpose of maintammg gold 

and silver at a parity. ,,,.10* 

With all these developments in mind, Charles btewart 
Smith President of the Chamber, said m opening the pro- 
grami^e of the evening: "No one can speak even casually of 
die severe crisb in financial circles of the last few days, which 
I beUeve is now happily passing away, without reference to 

30I 



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202 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

the heroic position taken by the great banks and bankers of 
London and New York. They launched the life-boat in time 
to save a disastrous wreck, and they deserve the thanks and 
confidence of the commercial world. 

"Whatever may be our individual judgment concerning the 
recent legislation by Congress regarding Silver and the Tariff," 
he added, "no thoughtful man will deny, that, for good or evil, 
the last session of Congress was the most important and 
eventful session that has been held since the close of our civil 
war." 

President Eliot, making his first appearance at these ban- 
quets, spoke on "Education in its Relations to Business 
Affairs," declaring as the result of no little personal observa- 
tion that there was no more striking general fact about the 
graduates of Harvard during the past fifty years than their 
eminent success in business. From one-fifth to one-third of 
the members of the successive graduating classes ultimately 
went into business. The same was probably true, he said, of 
many another American college. 

George William Curtis delighted the assemblage with a 
charming tribute to the genius of Washington Irving. "In 
the commercial capital of the continent our distinctive 
American literature began," he said, "and the first American 
book which was accepted and approved by the world was the 
work of a young American merchant. To be sure he failed as 
a merchant. It was not imtil 1809 that Mr. Buckminster, 
the orator of the Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard, said that the 
genius of our letters began to show signs of greater vigor, and 
in the same year a young man, who as a boy, to escape the 
rigors of domestic religious discipline, used to drop out of the 
window of his father's house in William Street in the evening, 
and steal off to the play around the comer in John Street, 
published a book called 'Knickerbocker's History of New 
York,' and in the gay genius of Irving American literature 
escaped the sermon and came laughing into life. The winter 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 203 

of our long Hterary discontent was made glorious summer 
by this son of York. But it was not until ten years later, 
when he was an unsuccessful merchant, and Sidney Smith 
asked his famous question, 'Who reads an American book?' 
that Irvmg had just answered it by the first numbers of the 
Sketch Book, and John Bull was forced to own that Jonathan 
had described traditional and charming aspects of his own 
life and character with more delicate grace than any English- 
man of the time." 

Continuing, Mr. Curtis, in a passage weU worthy of pres- 
ervation, said: "What a sweet and blameless genius it was! 
It aroused no passion, no prejudice, no hostility. Irving was 
popularly beloved, like Sir Walter Scott, and I recaU the amus- 
ing enthusiasm with which a party of Germans m Berlin, 
upon discovering that I was an American, exclaimed, 'Ah, we 
know very well your great General Washington Irving ! ' He 
touched our historic river with the glamor of the imagmation. 
He invested it with the subtle and enduring charm of literary 
association. He peopled it with figures that make it dear to 
the whole world, like Scott's Tweed, or Bums' Bonny Doon. 
The belated wanderer, in the twilight roads of Tarrytown, as 
he hears approaching the pattering gallop behmd him, knows 
that it is not his neighbor, it is the headless horseman of 
Sleepy Hollow. It is not thunder that we hear in the Catskills, 
on a still summer aftemoon, it is the airy game of Hendrik 
Hudson's crew that Rip Van Winkle heard." 

General Sherman, called upon unexpectedly, made his last 
appearance as a beloved and honored guest, for he died three 
months later. His speech, a model of brevity and sentiment, 
will never be forgotten by those who heard it, and who were 
to realize later that it was a last farewell. "I have arisen 
solely," he said, "as an obedient soldier at the command of 
his superior ofl&cer, and will only repeat that there is no body 
of men on the face of the earth for whom I entertain a higher 
estimate than the merchants who do the work and regulate 



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204 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

the commerce of the United States. They are the active 
agents who bring into harmonious relations the people of the 
whole world, and who are to-day doing more than any other 
class to bring about the dream and aspiration of all good peo- 
ple, that *Man to man the worid o'er, shall be brothers all. ' " 




CADWALLADER GOLDEN, 

Paintftl by Matthew Pratt in 1772. Collection ot the Chamber of Cnmmerce, 



fir 



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CHAPTER XL 

JOHN HAY ON DffLOMACY 

Cleveland's second election — lord herschell a guest — 
letter from president roosevelt 

1892-1902 

The comprehensive character of these annual gatherings was 
shown in the guests at the banquet of November 15, 1892, 
only a few days after the national election in which Mr. 
Cleveland was a second time chosen President. He was the 
chief guest of honor, and among the others were two members 
of President Harrison's Cabinet, Charles Foster, Secretary of 
the Treasury, and W. H. H. Miller, Attorney-General; and 
Whitelaw Reid, defeated candidate for the vice-presidency. 
Mr. Cleveland, in a few words thanking the Chamber for 
courtesies so often extended, said: *'I beg to assure you that 
though I may not soon meet you again on an occasion like 
this, I shall remember with peculiar pleasure the friends made 
among your membership, and shall never allow myself to be 
heedless of the affairs you so worthily hold in your keeping." 

A special banquet was given by the Chamber on April 28, 
1893, to the officers of the United States and foreign war-ships 
that had escorted the Spanish caravels to the harbor of New 
York for exhibition in the Columbus Centennial Exposition 
in Chicago. Four hundred persons were present. 

Coming closely upon the first defeat of the free-silver can- 
didate for the presidency, the banquet of November 17, 1896, 
assumed the air of a jubilee in which everybody congratulated 
everybody else. Among the guests were William L. Wilson, 
Postmaster-General, and John W. Griggs, Governor of New 

Jersey and later Attorney-General of the United States. In 

205 



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206 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

his speech, Governor Griggs paid a cordial tribute to the 
Chamber, saying: "I cannot let this opportunity pass with- 
out referring to the great work which this Chamber has 
wrought for the State and city whose name it bears, and for 
the coimtry at large. It is a long interval since these dinners 
were held at Fraunces's Tavern, but during all that period this 
institution has stood as the pilot, the guide, the director, the 
pioneer in all wise policies of commerce and trade and patriot- 
ism. You have bestowed not only wisdom and enlightenment 
and courage on the world of commerce, but millions of dol- 
lars upon the unfortimate victims of fire and flood and fever. 
You have been the promoters of good fortune, and the com- 
forters of misfortune. I wish that the people of this land 
could understand how much true and loyal patriotism, how 
much disinterested devotion to the highest interests of the 
country, are found among just such men as compose the Cham- 
ber of Commerce of the State of New York." 

The Right Honorable Lord Herschell, formerly Lord Chan- 
cellor of England, who was in the United States as president 
of the Joint High Commission that was negotiating a settle- 
ment of the Alaska boundary question, was the guest of honor 
in 1898. In his speech, which was heard with pleasure, Lord 
Herschell said that there was to him a peculiar interest in the 
fact that he, who had had the honor to fill the office of Lord 
Chancellor, should be present as the representative of his 
country engaged in negotiations between Great Britain and 
the United States. A century and a quarter ago or more, a 
predecessor of his in that high office had made a most imfortu- 
nately foolish prediction — ^had said, with reference to the 
American Colonies of that time, that if they withdraw their 
allegiance we shall withdraw our protection, and then they 
will soon be overrun by the little States of Genoa and San 
Marino. "I could not help thinking of those words when I re- 
flected that I was here negotiating with the representatives 
of a mighty nation of seventy millions of people who have not 




ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 207 

been overrun by the little Republics of Genoa and San Marino, 
although, imdoubtedly, in a sense very different from that 
which the speaker intended, you may have been overrun by 
the natives of some of the Italian towns." 

The shadow of President McKinley's tragic death was upon 
the annual banquet in 1901, and its distinguishing feature 
was an address by John Hay, Secretary of State. Secretary 
Hay began his remarks with a touchingly beautiful tribute to 
the dead President, saying that when the latter lay stricken 
at Buffalo he had asked him to take his place at the banquet. 
"This," said the Secretary, "I had sometimes done in his life- 
time, though always with diffidence and dread, but how much 
more am I daunted by the duty of appearing before you when 
that great man, loved and revered above all even while living, 
has put on the august halo of immortality. Who could worth- 
ily come into your presence as the shadow of that illustrious 
Shade?" 

Turning later to the subject of "Our Diplomacy" upon 
which he had been requested to speak, the Secretary alluded 
to those persons in whose minds diplomacy was considered 
"an occult science as mysterious as alchemy and as danger- 
ous to the morals as municipal politics," and said: "There 
was a time when diplomacy was a science of intrigue and 
falsehood, or traps and mines and countermines. The word 
'machiavelic' has become an adjective in our common speech, 
signifying fraudulent craft and guile; but Machiavel was as 
honest a man as his time justified or required. The King of 
Spain wrote to the King of France after the massacre of St. 
Bartholomew congratulating him upon the splendid dissimu- 
lation with which that stroke of policy had been accompHshed. 
In the last generation it was thought a remarkable advance 
and straightforward poHcy when Prince Bismarck recognized 
the advantage of telling the truth even at the risk of mislead- 
ing his adversary." 

Having himself been a diplomat, and a most successful one 



\ 



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206 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

his speech, Governor Griggs paid a cordial tribute to the 
Chamber, saying: "I cannot let this opportunity pass with- 
out referring to the great work which this Chamber has 
wrought for the State and city whose name it bears, and for 
the country at large. It is a long interval since these dinners 
were held at Fraunces's Tavern, but during all that period this 
institution has stood as the pilot, the guide, the director, the 
pioneer in all wise policies of commerce and trade and patriot- 
ism. You have bestowed not only wisdom and enlightenment 
and courage on the world of commerce, but millions of dol- 
lars upon the unfortimate victims of fire and flood and fever. 
You have been the promoters of good fortime, and the com- 
forters of misfortune. I wish that the people of this land 
could understand how much true and loyal patriotism, how 
much disinterested devotion to the highest interests of the 
country, are found among just such men as compose the Cham- 
ber of Commerce of the State of New York." 

The Right Honorable Lord Herschell, formerly Lord Chan- 
cellor of England, who was in the United States as president 
of the Joint High Commission that was negotiating a settle- 
ment of the Alaska boundary question, was the guest of honor 
in 1898. In his speech, which was heard with pleasure. Lord 
Herschell said that there was to him a peculiar interest in the 
fact that he, who had had the honor to fill the office of Lord 
Chancellor, should be present as the representative of his 
country engaged in negotiations between Great Britain and 
the United States. A century and a quarter ago or more, a 
predecessor of his in that high office had made a most unfortu- 
nately foolish prediction — had said, with reference to the 
American Colonies of that time, that if they withdraw their 
allegiance we shall withdraw our protection, and then they 
will soon be ovemm by the little States of Genoa and San 
Marino. "I could not help thinking of those words when I re- 
flected that I was here negotiating with the representatives 
of a mighty nation of seventy millions of people who have not 






ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 207 

been overrun by the little Republics of Genoa and San Marino, 
although, undoubtedly, in a sense very different from that 
which the speaker intended, you may have been ovemm by 
the natives of some of the Italian towns." 

The shadow of President McKinley's tragic death was upon 
the annual banquet in 1901, and its distinguishing feature 
was an address by John Hay, Secretary of State. Secretary 
Hay began his remarks with a touchingly beautiful tribute to 
the dead President, saying that when the latter lay stricken 
at Buffalo he had asked him to take his place at the banquet. 
"This," said the Secretary, "I had sometimes done in his life- 
time, though always with diffidence and dread, but how much 
more am I daunted by the duty of appearing before you when 
that great man, loved and revered above all even while living, 
has put on the august halo of immortality. Who could worth- 
ily come into your presence as the shadow of that illustrious 

Shade?" 

Turning later to the subject of "Our Diplomacy" upon 
which he had been requested to speak, the Secretary alluded 
to those persons in whose minds diplomacy was considered 
"an occult science as mysterious as alchemy and as danger- 
ous to the morals as municipal politics," and said: "There 
was a time when diplomacy was a science of intrigue and 
falsehood, or traps and mines and countermines. The word 
*machiavelic' has become an adjective in our common speech, 
signifying fraudulent craft and guile; but Machiavel was as 
honest a man as his time justified or required. The King of 
Spain wrote to the King of France after the massacre of St. 
Bartholomew congratulating him upon the splendid dissimu- 
lation with which that stroke of policy had been accomplished. 
In the last generation it was thought a remarkable advance 
and straightforward policy when Prince Bismarck recognized 
the advantage of telling the truth even at the risk of mislead- 
ing his adversary." 
Having himself been a diplomat, and a most successful one 



2o8 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

for many years, what the Secretary had to say about diplo- 
matic representatives was especially interesting: "There are 
two important lines of human endeavor in which men are 
forbidden even to allude to their success— affairs of the heart 
and diplomatic ajffairs. In doing so one not only commits a 
vulgarity which transcends all questions of taste, but makes 
all future success impossible. For this reason the diplomatic 
representatives of the government must frequently suffer in 
silence the most outrageous imputations upon their patriot- 
ism, their intelligence, and their common honesty. To justify 
themselves before the public they would sometimes have to 
place in jeopardy the interests of the nation. They must 
constantly adopt for themselves the motto of the French 
Revolutionist, *Let my name wither rather than my country 

be injured.'" 

Finally, coming to a definition of our diplomacy, he aroused 
great applause by saying: "The attitude of our diplomacy 
may be indicated in a text of Scripture which Franklin, the 
first and greatest of our diplomatists, teUs us passed through 
his mind when he was presented at the Court of Versailles. It 
was a text his father used to quote to him in the old candle- 
shop in Boston when he was a boy: 'Seest thou a man diUgent 
m his business, he shall stand before kings.' Let us be diUgent 
in our busmess, and we shall stand— stand, you see, not crawl 
nor swagger— stand, as a friend and equal, asking nothing, 
putting up with nothing but what is right and just among our 
peers in the great democracy of nations." 

President Roosevelt was invited to attend the annual ban- 
quet in 1902, but was unable to accept. In a letter of regret 
he paid this tribute to the Chamber and its influence in the 
land: 

The Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York occupies 
a unique position. It is distinguished not only by its long history 
but by the vast importance of the business interests which it repre- 
sents, but also for the high type of pubUc and business moraUty 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 209 

which it represents. I pay you no idle compliment. The record 
of the men you have chosen as presidents; the record of the causes 
with which the Chamber of Commerce has from time to time been 
identified; and above all the standard of business integrity which 
the Chamber of Commerce has consistently represented, and which 
it has demanded among those for whom it has in any way stood 
sponsor, shows the truth of what I say. It is surely unnecessary 
to add that no body of men can render a greater service, not only 
to the American business world but to the American body politic, 
than has thus been rendered by the Chamber of Commerce. 



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CHAPTER XLI 
LORD MORLEY CHIEF GUEST OF HONOR 

SPEECHES BV BISHOP GREER, GENERAL HORACE PORTER, AND 
JOSEPH H. CHOATE-THE GUESTS AT LATER BANQTJETS 

I904-191S 

ViscoTOT Moru:y, then plain John Morley, EngUdi states- 
nirSdlan of letters of the first rank, was the chief guest 
StoS a^ the annual banquet in November, .904. Among 
otiTwere Bishop Greer, Richard Ohiey, and Mayor Mc- 
ctui Mr. Moriey had been in the United Stat^ dunng 
S cb^g days of tie presidential campaign and had been a 
dose Z^er'of proceedings in Chicago on el.Uon day^s- 
tening to the returns as they were received m the evening. 
'TSifess," he said, "it greaUy impressed my "naginaUon 
and stirred me to think that in this great counter withm a 
Sw h^ the voice of the people, right or wrong, should be o 
^.Scally and so urnnistakably ascerUm«i^ I J- st^u^ 
^A^h the Derfectly good temper in which the defeated party, 
rSy o SS^S^presentatives were present at that momen 
SXago, took, what to them, I am sure, was a mortifying 

"CeSng of democracy, which the English call Uberal- 
J ^^d- "Of course it has its drawbacks, and 1 should 
Sko^r forms of government have their drawbacks, too. 
SS a^body dream that machine poUtics and corruption 
?^u Se-I do not impute it, but taking the worst view 
of ^^e case-does anybody suppose that those thrn^ came m 
with democracy? For my part, I think not, and I am sure 
riSy oT;rLw a grea' deal too much history to beheve 

any such nonsense." 
•^ 210 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 211 

Referring to the relations between the United States and 
Great Britain, he declared that he believed from the bottom of 
his heart that it was vital to the progress of the world, and to 
the civilization of mankind, that there should be union be- 
tween them. "Thus united," he continued, "we will fight 
side by side for those ideals and those questions which are 
common to us and common to you. You have an enormous 
population of all kinds and nationalities coming to this great 
continent of yours, but, come as they may, in time they be- 
come fused into American citizens, and I shall persist in be- 
lieving to the end of my days that the ideals and the aims — 
the moral ideals and moral aims — of the citizens of the United 
States and of those of my country are the same ideals and the 
same ends." 

Bishop Greer, who had been called upon to make "a few 
appropriate remarks," complied in a brief speech in which he 
related an anecdote of Bishop Clarke, of Rhode Island, who 
was known all over the land in his time as an incorrigible joker 
and joyous companion. Bishop Greer said he had been mak- 
ing a few appropriate remarks for several months since he 
had been elected a bishop and had found it a dangerous as 
well as a diflicult business since the remarks were apt to come 
back again with some public comment or criticism. "I 
remember," he said, "that the venerable Bishop of Rhode 
Island, Dr. Clarke, told me that he was called upon to 
preach a sermon before the Ancient and Honorable Artillery 
of Mr. Olney's State, and he was at a loss for an appropriate 
text, but he foimd one somewhere — a fragment of a verse in 
the Old Testament, which said, 'The ancient and honorable, 
he is the head,' and the next morning a Massachusetts paper, 
with characteristic omniscience, in reporting the sermon, 
quoted the rest of the verse, 'And the prophet that speaketh 
lies, he is the tail.'" 

There was a large number of distinguished guests at the an- 
nual banquet of 1905, including Joseph H. Choate, Ambassador 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



to London, and General Horace Porter, Ambassador to France, 
both recently retired from their posts. General Porter's 
speech was, as usual, partly in a humorous vein. He began 
it by saying that his first duty in arriving in France was " to 
try and soften down the conditions of the inspection of Ameri- 
can pork and the interpretation of the copyright law. I think 
probably I did render some Uttle service to those two important 
products of the pen." Speaking of his experiences, he made 
this interesting contribution to history: "Among many agree- 
able things that occurred in the pleasant land of France, one 
thmg touched me deeply. There was a profound sentiment in 
it. When our Commissioners came to Paris, and by their 
treaty ended the war with Spain, they signed that Treaty of 
Peace of Paris upon that same table upon which Benjamin 
Franklin and his colleagues at the close of the Revolution 
signed the first Treaty of Paris, also a treaty of peace, so that 
our two memorable diplomatic transactions abroad occurred 
in Paris, and each bore upon it the sign manual of peace." 

Mr. Choate spoke in his customary graceful and happy 
vein and in closing his speech said of the Chamber of Com- 
merce that it should be caUed " Chamber of Peace, Chamber of 
Conciliation— not only between this nation and the nation 
from which we sprang, but with aU the nations of the world." 
That, he added, had been its mission, "gloriously fulfilled" 
for one hundred and thirty-seven years— four generations of 
men. "For all time it has done what in it lay to promote the 
commerce, and necessarily with the commerce to promote 
and advance the peace of the world. Peace is inseparable 
from commerce, and commerce fails the moment that peace 
fails. I know not how you regard the career of this Chamber, 
but it does seem to me that it is one of those bodies that reflect 
ever new and growing credit upon the city and the country, 
of which it is a noble representative." 

Continuing, he made a prediction which the present writer 
of the Chamber's century and a half of history has found to 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 213 

be true to the letter by careful examination of its records: 
"I think it would bear investigation by any Legislature, by 
any committee, by any examining counsel under calcium light, 
who might probe to the bottom the facts of its history from 
its beginning until now, and not one flaw in its record be dis- 
covered. I hope that the history of this Chamber of Com- 
merce, for this last one hundred and thirty-seven years, will 
some time be fully written. There will not be found a single 
blemish upon it. There will be nothing but devotion to the 
prosperity and the welfare of the City, the State, and the 
Nation." 

Between 1906 and the outbreak of the European War in 
1914, each annual banquet had among its distinguished guests 
one or more of the diplomatic representatives of foreign govern- 
ments. In 1906 Sir Mortimer Durand, the British Ambassa- 
dor, and the German Ambassador were present; in 1907, 
J. J. Jusserand, the French Ambassador, and Baron Rosen, 
the Russian Ambassador; in 1908, James Bryce, the British 
Ambassador, and Lord Northcliffe; in 1909, Mr. Bryce, and 
the German Ambassador, who a few years later was given his 
passport by President Wilson. Among other guests during 
this period were Senator Lodge, Senator Root, Thomas A. 
Edison, Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia Uni- 
versity; Governor Dix, Mayor Gaynor, Mr. Carnegie, and 
James M. Beck. 

For the first time since 1873, the annual banquet was omitted 
in 1914 on account of the outbreak of the European War, and 
it was suggested that the members send the usual charge of 
$20 for a ticket to the Red Cross which resulted in a contribu- 
tion of $3,615 to that organization. The dinner was given as 
usual in 1915, and among the guests of honor were Secretary 
Redfield of President Wilson's Cabinet; Bishop Greer, and 
President Butler of Coliunbia University. The President of 
the Chamber, Seth Low, presided and in explanation of the 
resumption of the dinner custom said: "We have come to see 



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214 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

that it is in the interest of all men that the normal life of the 
world should be maintained, wherever possible, outside of 
the war zone." In his address, Mr. Low related an anecdote 
of Lincoln which is of historic value. He gave it on the per- 
sonal authority of General Scofield, whom it concerned. Li 
the early days of the Civil War General Fremont, who com- 
manded the Department of Missouri, undertook to emancipate 
the slaves within that department. It was necessary for 
President Lincoln to remind him that action of that character 
belonged to the civil power. As a result, Fremont sent in 
his resignation. Lincoln then sent for General Scofield, and 
said to him in substance this: "General Scofield, I am about 
to send you to the hardest post in the country, because there 
public opinion is sharply divided. If one side praises you 
and the other side blames you, I do not know on which side 
I shall be found. That will depend upon circumstances. 
But if both sides praise you, or if both sides blame you, you 
may count on me to my dying day." 

Two members of President Wilson's Cabinet, Secretary 
Lane, of the Interior Department, and Mr. Gregory, the At- 
torney-General, were present at the annual banquet of 1916, 
but neither of them made a speech. Other guests were Mayor 
Mitchel, Elihu Root, General Leonard Wood, and Thomas 
A. Edison. 



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CHAPTER XLII 
FORMAL RECEPTIONS 

FOREIGN VISITORS OF MANY NATIONALITIES THUS HONORED — 

ALSO EMINENT AMERICANS 

1893-1918 

From time to time during more recent years the Chamber 
has given formal receptions to distinguished visitors from 
other lands and also to eminent Americans who have per- 
formed public service of high value either at home or abroad. 
In 1893, during the celebration of the centennial of the dis- 
covery of America by Columbus, it subscribed twenty-seven 
thousand dollars for a grand reception at the Waldorf to the 
Duke of Veragua and other descendants of Columbus, for 
which five thousand invitations were issued. Receptions have 
been held in the Great Hall of the building since its com- 
pletion and have been attended by notable gatherings of lead- 
ing citizens. Representatives of many foreign countries have 
been thus honored. Among them were Prince Louis of Batten- 
berg, rear-admiral conmianding His Majesty's second cruiser 
squadron and the officers of the fleet when it was in the har- 
bor in March, 1905; the admirals and officers of the foreign 
fleets attending the Hudson-Fulton celebration in 1909, and 
the Japanese Commissioners to the Alaska-Yukon Exposition 
in the same year; the French delegates who brought from 
France, in 1912, the bas-relief by Rodin to be placed on the 
Champlain monument, when addresses were made by the 
French Ambassador, M. Jusserand, Gabriel Hanotaux, and 
Comte de Chambrun; the Imperial Japanese diplomatic 
War Mission to this country in October, 191 7, and the Special 
Finance Commission from the same country in November 

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216 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

following; and the Chinese Military and Naval Mission on 
January 3, 191 8. 

When Mr. Choate and General Horace Porter returned 
from their respective ambassadorships in London and France, 
in 1905, a joint reception, followed by a luncheon, was given 
them on October 17, which was attended by a large and dis- 
tinguished assemblage. Mr. Choate made one of his happiest 
speeches, describing his experiences abroad, in which he said 
that he had enjoyed immensely every day of his residence 
there. 

A reception followed by a luncheon was given also to Elihu 
Root and the members of the commission that President 
Wilson sent to Russia, on their return from that country in 
August, 191 7, and like honor was paid to James W. Gerard, 
former Ambassador to Germany, in March of the same year. 

In October, 191 5, the Anglo-French Finance Conmaission 
that came to the United States to negotiate the first war loan 
to the Allies, accepted an invitation to attend a session in the 
Chamber. The Earl of Reading, G.C.B., Lord Chief Justice of 
England, representing the English members of the commission, 
and M. Octave Romberg, representing the French members, 
made brief speeches expressing thanks for the privilege of 
being present and for the support given by the Chamber to 
their mission. 

One of the most notable of the receptions was that given 
to the British War Commission on May 12, 191 7. There 
were twenty-three members of the commission, with the 
Right Honorable Arthur James Balfour at its head. A large 
number of distinguished guests, including Sir Cecil Spring- 
Rice, the British Ambassador to the United States, were 
invited to meet them. E. H. Outerbridge, President of 
the Chamber, welcomed the commission, saying that the 
gathering was in celebration of the fact that "we have struck 
hands to fight, with them, in the greatest war that the world 
has ever known," adding: "I venture to think that the his- 






ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 217 

torians of the future will record, and the generations to come 
will agree, that the event we celebrate to-day, the jommg 
together of these two great nations in this war, will have been 
fraught with vaster consequences and wiU have resulted m 
greater benefits to mankind than aU the achievements of the 

hundred years of peace." . j .i, 

Mr Balfour's speech on this occasion was accounted the 
most eloquent and impressive of the many he made durmg 
his stay in the country. A few extracts are appended: 

Mr. President, I have had as the dream of my Hfe a hope that 
before I died the union between the English-speakmg, freedom- 
loving branches of the human race should be drawn far closer than 
in the past and that all temporary causes of difference which may 
ever have separated two great peoples would be seen m their true 
and just proportions; and that we should all realize on whatever 
side of the Atlantic fortune has placed us, that the thmgs wherem 
we have differed in the past sink into absolute insignificance com- 
pared with those vital agreements which at all times, but never 
at such a time as the present, unite us in one great spiritual whole. 
You incidentally mentioned, Mr. President, that this very body 
which I am addressing date the origin of their Society to the year, 
I think you said, 1768. Is not that characteristic and symbolic 
of what happens on both sides of the Atlantic? We stnke our 
roots into a distant past. We have known how, through revolu- 
tions, in spite of revolutions, sometimes because of revolutions, to 
weld the past and the present into one organic whole; and here, 
in a country which calls itself and is, in one sense, a new country 
—I everywhere see signs of those roots which draw their nourish- 
ment and their strength from epochs far removed from us, and 
when I talk to those who are bom and bred under the American 
flag who have absorbed all their poUtical ideas from Amencan m- 
stititions— I feel, that I am speaking to those brought up, as it 
were, under one influence, in one house, under one set of educa- 
tional conditions. ., ^1. 

I beUeve that on this side of the Atlantic, and I hope on the other 
side of the Atlantic, when these great problems have actively to be 
dealt with, it will not be beyond the reach of your statesmanship 
or of our own, to deal with them in such a manner that we cannot 



t *,»■•»■?'*•■(;•' •■ * 'T.' * " 



I 

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2i8 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

merely look back upon this great war as the beginning of a time of 
improved international relations, of settled peace, of deliberate 
refusal to pour out oceans of blood to satisfy some notion of domina- 
tion; but that in addition to those blessings the war and what 
happens after the war may prove to be the beginning of a revivified 
civilization which will be felt in all departments of human activity, 
which will not merely touch the material but also the spiritual side 
of himian nature, and which will make the second decade of the 
twentieth century memorable in the history of mankind. 

At a luncheon which was served later in the library of the 
Chamber's building, Mr. Balfour made a further brief speech 
in which he said: "I shall tell them (in England) that this 
great Republic is not only warmly, but passionately, engaged 
on the side of the Allies. From the very beginning of this 
great struggle, there has been the profoundest sympathy for 
us from every one in this coimtry who had the imagination to 
grasp what was going on. Since August i, 1914, the fight 
has been for the highest spiritual advantages of mankind, and 
without a petty thought or ambition." 

Mr. Choate, following Mr. Balfour, in a few words of warm 
appreciation of the courtesies extended to the British Com- 
mission, said that once while he was in London and calling on 
Lord Salisbury he looked through a window in the park and 
exclaimed: "What a shame!" Lord Salisbury sprang to his 
feet and asked what he was referring to, and Mr. Choate re- 
plied: "Look at those tramps lying on the grass in that 
beautiful park, which should be devoted to little children 
and their nurses and to ladies and others who would more 
properly fit the surroundings." "Well," said Lord Salis- 
bury, "the men are tired. What would you have them do?" 
"Why," said Mr. Choate, "in New York we would not stand 
that for a moment." "What would you do in New York?" 
inquired Lord Salisbury. Mr. Choate said: "A policeman 
would order them to move on, and if they did not do so they 
would be locked up." Lord Salisbury then remarked: "In 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 219 

America you evidently do not know what real personal 

liberty is." , . 

This was the last speech that Mr. Choate ever made, for 

he died on May 12, 1917, two days later. 

An informal luncheon was tendered on November 12, 1917, 
by the President of the Chamber and the Executive Com- 
mittee to Sir Stephenson Kent and other members of the 
Special Commission of the British Ministry of Munitions, 
then on a visit to the United States in the interest of increased 
industrial efficiency in the production of war suppUes. Brief 
speeches were made by President Outerbridge and several 
members of the Commission. 

An occasion which will always be held memorable by the 
members of the Chamber was the reception given, on March 
7 1918, to the Most Reverend Cosmo Gordon Lang, Lord 
Archbishop of York, Primate of England. The Archbishop 
had arrived recently in the country for a visit of seven weeks 
in response to the invitation of the War Council of the Protes- 
tant Episcopal Church of the United States. The object of 
his visit, as stated by himself, was to emphasize the impor- 
tance which the help of America had been to the AlHed 
Cause, and to appeal to Americans to strengthen and keep 
strong their great contribution. He made a tour of the 
principal cities, preaching in churches and addressing audi- 
ences of various kinds. He appeared before the Chamber 
at its regular monthly meeting, when the Great Hall was 
filled to overflowing with members and invited guests. The 
President, E. H. Outerbridge, greeted him in a brief address 
in which he assured him that there had not been a time since 
August 4, 1914, in which the great masses of the people of 
the United States had not admired and believed in the jus- 
tice and chivalry of England's cause. "Now that we see 
clearly shining," he continued, "the pure ideals and princi- 
ples upon which our fathers founded this nation, and which 
we are bound to hand down to posterity unimpaired; now 



I 



220 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

that we have joined hands with Englzmd to fight for the sal- 
vation of the world, we shall not let go until we have achieved 
the victory or until death do us part." 

In concluding, Mr. Outerbridge, in the name of the Cham- 
ber, welcomed the Archbishop, first, for what he had been 
and what he had done "in leading men onward and upward 
in their paths through life"; second, as "a most distinguished 
representative of that nation with which we are now allied"; 
and, third, because "we feel that your presence here at this 
time is a benediction upon what we have done in the past 
and an inspiration and strengthening of our hope and courage 
for what we have to face in the future." 

The address of the Archbishop, distinguished by deep feel- 
ing, intense earnestness, and great charm of delivery, fairly 
held his audience spellbound. He spoke of the persons pres- 
ent as "those who are here controlling the power-house of 
this great nation," and said that, considering all the drcmn- 
stances, he must needs regard the occasion as one of the 
greatest honors of his life. "I doubt very much," he added, 
"whether there is any Chamber of Commerce in the world 
which would have expected its President to speak as yours 
has done, and which would have shown its capacity to rise 
to the vision and the ideals which he put before you. I 
have always said across the ocean, and have abtmdant rea- 
son to repeat it here, that what seems to me the great strength 
of this people and the great strength that it is bringing into 
our common cause, is its singular combination of high ideal- 
ism with a resolute and determined practical energy. And 
I think what has moved me to-day almost more than any- 
thing else if that I should feel in the midst of a number of 
men daily concerned with the most practical necessities and 
operations of business, this radiating and instantaneous re- 
sponse to the appeal of a high ideal." 

After speaking of what the war was costing England in life 
and treasiure, the work that England was doing in manufac- 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



221 



i 



luring munitions and material with which to carry on the 
war and the enormous advances England had made to its 
alHes, he said, in regard to the aid that the United States 
might give: "You will, I know, do your utmost; because I 
realize the force of pubHc opinion in America, upon the ad- 
ministration in America, which such a body as this repre- 
sents. You wHl do your best to see that nothing blocks the 
way of the real desire of the American people to get this thing 
done and this help rendered." 

In closing, the Archbishop profoundly moved the assem- 
blage by saying: "I know the tasks before us wiU be great 
and the stram will be heavy, and, therefore, with a full heart, 
I will avail myself of a word that left the Hps of your Presi- 
dent at the close of his moving speech; and as one who holds 
an office in the service of God older than the crown of our 
United England, I would ask the privilege as I speak to you, 
by invoking upon you, Mr. President and gentlemen, in the 
work of this Chamber and in the struggles of these coming 
years, the blessing and guidance of Him uj^n whose will 
the achievement of our victory must depend." 



I * 



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CHAPTER XLin 
BROAD SCOPE OF LATER WORK 

REVIVAL OF AMERICAN SHIPPING — ^RAPID TRANSIT — STATE 
POLICE — NEW WATER-SUPPLY 

I9OO-1918 

The range of the Chamber's activities during more recent 
years has broadened steadily and has included every question 
of importance in city, state, and national affairs. It is im- 
possible within the limits of this volume to take up in detail 
the proceedings of the Chamber in regard to all of these. A 
few of the more notable instances may be cited as worthy of 
special mention. 

Always interested in the revival of American shipping, the 

Chamber has supported every effort in that direction. It 

gave special attention between 1880 and 1900 to the question 

of ship subsidies, advocating the passage of various measures 

of the kind which were proposed in Congress. After war 

was declared by Germany in August, 1914, the Chamber took 

up the question of the restoration of the American Merchant 

Marine in foreign trade and appomted a special committee 

of five members to consider and report. This committee made 

a report at the Chamber's regular meeting on January 7, 1915, 

in which they disapproved the ship purchase bill which was 

pending in Congress and submitted a constructive plan of 

their own. The report was adopted, after a full discussion in 

several successive meetings, and the suggested substitute plan 

was approved, but the matter was not pressed further because 

of the creation of the Federal Shipping Board. 

After the control of rapid-transit problems was transferred 
to the Public Service Commission, the Chamber continued 

222 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 223 

to take interest in them and to give expression to its views 
when occasion arose for it to do so. When Mr. Gaynor was 
Mayor of the city he asked the Chamber for a formal expres- 
sion of its opinions and suggestions, and the result was an 
elaborate report from the Chamber's special committee on 
the subject which was an exhaustive discussion of all aspects 
of the problem, containing suggestions of great value, many 
of which were subsequently adopted. 

Special reports, of which many were published in pamphlet 
form, were made on such subjects of pressing interest as 
Forest Preservation; Municipal and State Taxation; Inter- 
national Peace and Arbitration; a Permanent Tariff Com- 
mission; National Guard and Naval Militia; Workmen's Com- 
pensation; Conservation of Water and Lands; Diplomatic 
and Consular Efficiency; State Roads; Raikoad Labor Arbi- 
tration; Income Tax Collection Methods; Improved Postal 
Facilities; Barge Canal Construction; Height of Buildings; 
State Constabulary; Social Insurance; Waterfront and Har- 
bor Improvements, and general city and state legislation. 

Concerning many of these topics, successive sessions of the 
Chamber were given up largely to discussions in which ex- 
pert authorities, present by invitation, took part. This was 
the case in regard to State-road improvement and canal en- 
largement. National Guard and Naval Militia, and taxation in 
various forms. When the Federal Reserve bank measure was 
first introduced in Congress, the Chamber came early to its 
support. At a special meeting on October 20, 19 13, the Com- 
mittee on Finance and Currency made an elaborate report 
containing a careful study of the bill, and recommended the 
following resolution, which was unanimously adopted: 

Resolved, That if the pending measure be amended so as to con- 
form in fundamental principles and administration to the approved 
practices of world banking in security and flexibility, we urge 
upon the management of National Banks a broad and unselfish 
view and a hearty co-operation, believing that any temporary in- 



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ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 225 

efforts of the President of the Chamber, Governor Whitman 
was persuaded to give his support to a measure which was 
pending in the Legislature establishing such a force, and 
representatives of the Chamber were sent to Albany to 
attend hearings upon it. When General Leonard Wood 
addressed the Chamber on the subject of national military 
preparedness, in April, 1916, he stated emphatically that a 
State police would aid the work of military preparedness, 
saying that it would relieve the militia from strike and riot 
duty, would give a small and highly trained and very efficient 
force capable of meeting all the ordinary demands of the 
State, and would tend to economy and efficiency. A resolu- 
tion was adopted by the Chamber in March, 191 7, asking all 
the members to write to their representatives in the Senate 
and Assembly, urging them to support the bill, and in the fol- 
lowing month it became a law. 

A work of great importance to the city and the State was 
the construction of the Catskill Water Supply System. In 
the inception of this work, as well as in its execution, the 
Chamber bore a conspicuous part. Mayor McClellan recog- 
nized the value of its services by asking it to submit a list 
of names from which he could appoint one of the three commis- 
sioners that were authorized imder the bill, which he pre- 
sented to the Legislature in 1905, providing for the construc- 
tion of the system. He made a similar request of two other 
organizations — the Manufacturers' Association of Brooklyn, 
and the Board of Fire Underwriters of New York. Li the 
bill as presented such appointment was directed, but the 
Legislature struck out the provision as unconstitutional. To 
the lasting credit of Mayor McClellan, it is to be recorded 
that he carried out the purpose to the letter, thereby placing 
this enormous task, involving the expenditmre of millions of 
the public money, in the hands of men who had the ability 
and character necessary to execute it in the best possible 
manner, free from the taint of jobbery and graft in any 



226 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 



' I 



I ! 



form. The Mayor selected from the list submitted by the 
Chamber of Commerce, J. Edwards Simmons; from that by 
the Manufacturers' Association, Charles N. Chadwick, also 
a member of the Chamber; and by the Fire Underwriters, 
Charles A. Shaw. Mr. Simmons was elected president of 
the commission and resigned in January, 1908, when John A. 
Bensel, a member of the Chamber, was appointed by Mayor 
McClellan in his place and was elected president of the com- 
mission. Mr. Bensel resigned at the close of 1910 and Mr. 
Shaw resigned in January, 1911. Their places were filled by 
Charles Strauss and John F. Galvin. Mr. Chadwick by his 
untiring devotion to the work justly earned the title of 
'* Father" of the great enterprise, which, to quote the verdict 
of the Chamber, "was brought to a successful conclusion by 
the foresight, vision, administrative ability and engineering 
skill of those who first conceived it." 



The Chronicle closes with the nation fighting side by side 
with its European allies in the most stupendous struggle for 
human freedom that the world has ever known. In this 
crisis, the Chamber, true to its traditions, places patriotism 
above all other considerations and makes whole-hearted sup- 
port of the National Government its first duty, subordinating 
all others to it. It thus follows in the footsteps of the founders 
and proves itself steadfast in the faith which was their in- 
spiration a century and a half ago. 



APPENDIX 



u 



FOUNDING OF THE CHAMBER 

WhereaSf mercantile societies have been found very useful in 
trading cities for promoting and encouraging commerce, support- 
ing industry, adjusting disputes relative to trade and navigation, 
and procuring such laws and regulations as may be found necessary 
for the benefit of trade in general; 

For which purpose, and to establish such a society in the city 
of New York, the following persons convened on the first Tuesday 
in, and being the 5th day of, April, 1768: 



John Cruger, 
EHas Desbrosses, 
James Jauncey, 
Jacob Walton, 
Robert Murray, 
Hugh Wallace, 
George FoUiot, 
WiUiam Walton, 
Samuel Verplanck, 
Theophylact Bache, 



Thomas White, 
Miles Sherbrooke, 
Walter FrankUn, 
Robert Ross Waddle, 
Acheson Thompson, 
Lawrence Kortright, 
Thomas Randal, 
WiUiam McAdam, 
Isaac Low, 
Anthony Van Dam. 



Who agreed that the said Society of Merchants should consist of 

A President, 
Vice-President, 
Treasurer, 
Secretary, 

and such a number of merchants as already, or hereafter may be- 
come members thereof, to be called and known by the name of 

The New York Chamber of Commerce. 



The Members present unanimously chose the following Gentle- 
men their officers for this year, to commence the first Tuesday in 
May next: 

229 



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230 APPENDIX 

John Cruger, President, 
Hugh Wallace, Vice-President, 
EUas Desbrosses, Treasurer, 
Anthony Van Dam, Secretary. 

Then the following resolutions, being read, were agreed to. 

That the members of the Chamber of Commerce shall meet the 
first Tuesday in every month, to transact such business as may 
come before them; and estabhsh such rules for the order and 
good government of the Society as they may think proper and find 
necessary. 

That the first Tuesday in May, August, November, and February 
in every year are declared to be the Grand Quarterly Meetings, at 
which times the accounts of the Chamber are to be settled, and any 
new members who desire it and are chosen by ballot are to be ad- 
mitted. 

The officers of said Chamber of Commerce to be chosen yearly 
by ballot on the first Tuesday in May, and to continue for one 
year. 

Every member of the Society who now is or hereafter may be 
admitted into the same, shall pay unto the Treasurer for the use 
of the said Chamber of Commerce five Spanish dollars on his ad- 
mission, and shall also pay unto the said Treasurer for the afore- 
said use the further sum of one Spanish dollar on each of the four 
quarterly days before mentioned, and such members shall faith- 
fully and truly keep, obey, and conform to all rules and regulations 
made and entered into by said Chamber of Commerce, which are 
to be entered into the Books of the said Society to be kept for that 
purpose, on pain of being dismissed the said Chamber of Commerce, 
and having his or their names struck off the list. 

Any merchant choosing to become a member of this Chamber 
of Commerce must give in his name to the President for the time 
being on the first Tuesday in the month preceding the Quarterly 
meeting, and the person proposed is to be balloted for, and if three 
nays appear he cannot be admitted during the government of the 
President in whose year he was so refused, but may be proposed 
the succeeding or any year after, and if not again opposed by three 
nays then to be admitted, but if any person is three times refused, 
he is never to be admitted. 

A proper room for the meeting of the members of the Chamber 
of Commerce is to be provided at the expense of the members so 



4 



I V 



I 



APPENDIX 



231 



that it doth not exceed one shilling per man, which each person 
is to pay to the Treasurer at their respective meetings. 

The members of the Chamber of Commerce doth agree that the 
Treasurer shall provide for their use a strong chest, wherein shall 
be deposited their cash, books, and papers, which is to have three 
different good locks and keys— one key to be kept by the President, 
one by the Treasurer, and the third by the Secretary; the chest for 
the present to be kept at the Treasurer's. 

No business to be done by the said Chamber of Commerce un- 
less there be twenty-one members present, of which the President 
or Vice-President to be always one (unless by committees to be 
appointed for particular purposes), the meeting on the first Tuesday 
in May next only excepted, when thirteen or more members may 
do business, and everything proposed or transacted to be by vote 
of the members present, and the opinion of the majority of votes to 
be conclusive and binding on the members, except in admitting 
new members, which is to be done as is hereinbefore directed. 

The President, with the advice of the members of the Chamber, 
is to appoint the place of meeting, nothing to be done but by appli- 
cation to him, who is to examine and sign the Treasurer's accoimts, 
and in general to superintend all the Society's affairs. 

The Vice-President in the absence of the President to have the 
same power and authority as if the President was personally pres- 
ent, who is to keep the President's key when absent. 

The Treasurer to provide a proper book, at the expense of the 
said Chamber, for keeping the receipt of all money paid to him, 
and all money laid out by him for the use of the said Society, 
which are to be fairly entered at the meetings held from time 
to time, and which are to be audited on the first Tuesday in May 
in every year, and signed by the auditors to be appointed for that 
purpose, when he is to deliver over the cash remaining in hand, 
books, and his key to the Treasurer elected, or in the absence of 
the Treasurer so elected, then to the President, or in his absence to 
the Vice-President. 

The Secretary is to keep a fair register of all proceedings, orders, 
rules, and regulations of the said Chamber of Commerce, which are 
to be entered in a proper book to be provided for that purpose at 
the expense of the said Society. In tiie absence of the Secretary, 
the President to appoint one of the members to officiate in his 
place for the time being, to whom, by a written order from the 
President, the Secretary is to deliver his key. 



T 



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232 



APPENDIX 



Every member not attending the monthly meeting, to forfeit 
and pay to the Treasurer two shilUngs, and such who do not attend 
the quarterly meeting, to pay four shillings for non-attendance, 
unless some cause, judged reasonable by the Society, is admitted 
by them as sufficient. Sickness, and being absent at least six 
miles from the city, to be always allowed sufficient reasons for non- 
attendance. 

The President is to appoint a proper person, to be approved 
of by the Society, as their Doorkeeper and Messenger, who is to 
be paid by the Treasurer such sums as may be hereafter directed 
by the President for his services. 

It is agreed that no new rules, regulations, or orders for the 
government of this Society shall be made, unless proposed at a 
preceding meeting, that there may be time for tiie general sense 
of the Society to be known. 

The President, or in his absence, the Vice-President, hath power 
on any emergency to call a meeting of the said Chamber, and 
aU meetings to be at six o'clock in the evening of every day that 
their attendance may be required. 

The following gentiemen, who are of the Society, not being pres- 
ent, assented to the same: 



John Alsop, 
Henry White, 



Philip Livingston, 
James McEvers. 



ORIGINAL CHARTER 

Charter of the Corporation of the Chamber of Commerce 

IN THE City of New York 

George the Third, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, 
France and Ireland, King, Defender of tiie Faith, and so fortii- 
To all to whom tiiese presents shall come, Greetmg: 

Whereas, a great number of merchants in our City of New ^.f-itg^^ 
York, in America, have, by voluntary agreement, associated them- w petmon«i 
selves for the laudable purpose of promoting tiie trade and com- aor Coiden. 
merce of our said province; and whereas, John Cruger, Esq., 
tiie present President of the said Society, by his humble petition 
presented in behalf of the said Society, to our trusty and well- 
beloved Cadwallader Colden, Esq., our Lieutenant-Governor 
and Commander-in-Chief of our said Province of New York, and 
tiie territories depending thereon in America, and read in our 
Council for our said Province, on the twenty-eightii day of Febru- tbe^.sth Feb- 
ary, last past, hath represented to our said Lieutenant-Governor, 
tiiat the said Society (sensible that numberless inestimable benefits 
have accrued to mankind from commerce; that they are, m pro- 
portion to tiieir greater or lesser appUcation to it, more or less 
opulent and potent in aU countries; and that the enlargement of 
trade will vastly increase the value of real estates, as well as tiie 
general opulence of our said colony) have associated togetiier for 
some time past, in order to carry into execution among them- 
selves, and by their example to promote in others, such measur^ 
as were beneficial to those salutary purposes; and tiiat the said 
Society having, with great pleasure and satisfaction, expenenced 
the good effects which the few regulations already adopted had 
produced, were very desirous of rendering them more extensively 
useful and permanent and more adequate to the purposes of so 
benevolent an institution; and therefore the petitioner, in behalf 
of tiie said Society, most humbly prayed our said Lieutenant- 

233 



to incorporate 
them 



/ 



by the name 
of "The Cor- 
poration of the 
Chamber of 
Commerce in 
the City of 
New York, in 
America." 



;l. 



234 



APPENDIX 



Governor to incorporate them a body politic, and to invest them 
with such powers and authorities as might be thought most con- 
ducive to answer and promote the commercial and, consequently, 
the landed interests of oiu: said growing colony; which petition 
being read as aforesaid, was then and there referred to a Committee 
of our said Council, and afterwards, on the same day, our said 
Council, in pursuance of the report of the said Committee, did 
hmnbly advise and consent, that our said Lieutenant-Governor, 
by our letters patent, should constitute and appoint the petitioner, 
and the present members of the said Society, a body corporate 
and politic, by the name of "The Corporation of the Chamber 
OF Commerce in the City of New York, in America," agreeable 
to the prayer of the said petition: Therefore, we being willing to 
further the laudable designs of our said loving subjects, and to 
give stability to an institution from whence great advantages may 
arise, as well as to our kingdom of Great Britain as to our said 
province, 

Know ye, That of our special grace, certain knowledge and 
mere motion, we have willed, ordained, given, granted, consti- 
tuted and appointed, and by these presents for us, our heirs and 
successors, do will, ordain, give, grant, constitute, and appoint, 
that the present members of the said Society, associated for the 
piupose aforesaid, that is to say, John Cruger, Ellas Desbrosses, 
James Jauncey, Jacob Walton, Robert Murray, Hugh Wal- 
lace, George Folliot, Wm. Walton, John Alsop, Henry White, 
Philip Livingston, Samuel Verplanck, Theophylact Bache, 
Thomas White, Miles Sherbrooke, Walter Franklin, Robert 
Ross Waddell, Acherson Thompson, Lawrence Cortwright, 
Thomas Randal, William M'Adam, Isaac Low, Anthony Van 
Dam, Robert Watts, John Harris Cruger, Gerard Walton, 
Isaac Sears, Jacobus Van Zandt, Charles M'Evers, John 
Moore, Lewis Pintard, Levinus Clarkson, Nicholas Gouver- 
NEUR, Richard Yates, Thomas Marston, Peter Hassencliver, 
Alexander Wallace, Gabriel H. Ludlow, Thomas Buchannan, 
Wm. Neilson, Sampson Simpson, Peter Kettletas, Gerard W. 
Beekman, Jacob Watson, Richard Sharpe, Peter Remsen, 
Henry Remsen, junior, William Seton, Edw. Laight, John 
Reade, Robert Alexander, Thomas W. Moore, Abraham 
Lynson, Isaac Roosevelt, Nicholas Hoffman, Hamilton 
Young, Thomas Walton, John Thurman, John Weatherhead, 



APPENDIX 



235 



Garrit Rapelye, Gerard Duyckinck, William Stepple, Wil- 
liam Imlay, Augustus Van Horne, Henry C. Bogert, George 
W. Ludlow, Joseph Bull, Leonard Lispenard, Thomas Miller, 
Jas. Beekman, Samuel Kemble, Alexander M'Donald and 
Samuel Bayard, jun., all of our City of New York, m our said 
province of New York, merchants, and their successors, to be 
elected by virtue of this our present Charter, shall for ever here- 
after be one body corporate and politic in deed, fact and name, 
by the name and style, "The Corporation of the Chamber of 
Commerce in the City of New York, in America," and them 
and their successors, by the same name, we do by these presents 
really and fully make, erect, create, constitute and declare one 
body politic and corporate, in deed, fact and name for ever; and 
will give, grant, and ordain, that they and their successors, the 
Corporation of the Chamber of Commerce in the City of New 
York, in America, by the same name, shall and may have perpetual 
succession, and shall and may by the same name, be persons capa- 
ble in the law to sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, answer 
and be answered, defend and be defended, in all courts and else- 
where, in all manner of actions, suits, complaints, pleas, causes, 
matters and demands whatsoever, as fully and ample as any other 
of our liege subjects of our said province of New York may or can 
sue or be sued, implead or be impleaded, defend or be defended, 
by any lawful ways or means whatsoever; and that they and their 
successors by the same name, shall be for ever hereafter persons 
capable and able in the law to purchase, take, receive, hold and 
enjoy to them and their successors, any messuages, tenements, 
houses and real estates whatsoever, and all other hereditaments of 
whatsoever nature, kind and quality they may be, in fee simple, 
for term of life or lives, or in any other manner howsoever, and also 
any goods, chattels or personal estate whatsoever, as well for en- 
abUng them the better to carry into execution, encourage and pro- 
mote, by just and lawful ways and means, such measures as will 
tend to promote and extend just and lawful commerce, as to provide 
for, aid and assist, at their discretion, such members of our said 
Corporation as may hereafter be reduced to poverty, and their 
widows and children; Provided always, the clear yearly value of 
the said real estate doth not at any time exceed the sum of three 
thousand pounds sterling, lawful money of our Kingdom of Great 
Britain. And that our said Corporation of the Chamber of Com- 
merce in the City of New York, in America, and their successors for 



To have per- 
petual succes- 
sioa. 

To sue and 
be sued in all 
manner of ac- 
tions. 



May be ca- 
pable in law to 
purchase and 
enjoy real es- 
tate. 



To promote 
and extend 
c om merce, 
and assist dis- 
tressed mem- 
bers. 

Provided 
their clear 
yearly income 
does not ex- 
ceed ;^3. 000 
sterl. per ann. 



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II 



Power to 
lease or dispose 
of real estate, 
&C. 



And have a 
common seal, 
which may be 
altered. 



May bmid 
any house or 
homes. 



For ever to 
have one Presi- 
dent, one or 
more Vice- 
Presidents, 
one or more 
Treasurers; 
and one Secre- 
taiy. 



Appointment 
of J. Cruger, 
Esq., Presi- 
dent; Hugh 
Wallace, Vice- 
President ; 
Ellas Des- 
brosses, Trea- 
surer; Anthony 
Van Dam, Sec- 
retazy. 



On the first 
Tuesday in 
May in every 
year, to meet 
and choose of- 
ficers. 



236 



APPENDIX 



ever, by the same name, shall and may have full power and author- 
ity to give, grant, sell, lease, demise and dispose of the same real 
estate and hereditaments whatsoever, for life, or lives, or years, 
or for ever; and all goods, chattels and personal estates what- 
soever at their will and pleasure, according as they shall judge to 
be most beneficial and advantageous to the good ends and purposes 
aforementioned. And that it shall and may be lawful for them and 
their successors for ever hereafter, to have a common seal, to serve 
for the causes and business of them and their successors, and the 
same seal to change, alter, break and make new from time to time 
at their pleasure. And also that they and their successors, by the 
same name, shall and may have full power and authority to erect 
and build out of their common funds, or by any other ways or means, 
for the use of the Corporation hereby erected, any house, houses or 
other buildings, as they shall think necessary and convenient. 
And for the better carrying into execution the purposes aforesaid, 
our royal will and pleasure is, and we do hereby give and grant to 
the Corporation of the Chamber of Commerce in the City of New 
York, in America, and theu: successors for ever, that there shall be 
for ever hereafter belonging to the said Corporation, one President, 
one or more Vice-President or Vice-Presidents, one or more Trea- 
surer or Treasurers, and one Secretary; and for the more immediate 
carrying into execution our royal will and pleasure herein, we do 
hereby assign, constitute and appoint the above named John 
Cruger, Esq., to be the present President; the above named Hugh 
Wallace to be the present Vice-President; the above named 
Ellas Desbrosses to be the present Treasurer, and the above 
named Anthony Van Dam to be the present Secretary of our 
said Corporation hereby erected, who shall hold, possess and enjoy 
their said respective offices until the first Tuesday in May now 
next ensuing; and for keeping up the succession in the said offices, 
our royal will and pleasure is, and we do hereby for us, our heirs 
and successors, establish, direct and require, and give and grant 
to the said Corporation of the Chamber of Commerce in the City 
of New York, in America, and their successors for ever, that on the 
said first Tuesday in May now next ensuing, [and for the keeping 
up the succession in the said office, our royal will and pleasiu-e is, 
and we do hereby for us, our heirs and successors, establish, direct 
and require, and give and grant to the said Corporation of the 
Chamber of Commerce in the City of New York, in America, and 
their successors for ever, that on the said first Tuesday in May now 



APPENDIX 



237 



next ensuing,] and yearly, and every year for ever thereafter, on 
the first Tuesday in May in every year, they and their successors 
shall meet at some convenient place in our said City of New York, 
to be fixed and ascertained by some of the by-laws and regulations 
of our said Corporation, and there, by the majority of such of them 
as shall so meet, shall by ballot or in such other manner and form 
as shall be regulated by the by-laws or regulations of our said 
Corporation, elect or choose one President, one or more Vice-Presi- 
dent or Vice-Presidents, one or more Treasurer or Treasurers, and 
one Secretary, to serve in the said offices for the ensuing year, 
who shall immediately enter upon their respective offices, and hold, 
exercise and enjoy the same respectively from the time of such elec- 
tion, for and during the space of one year, and imtil other fit per- 
sons shall be elected and chosen in their respective places, according 
to the laws and regulations aforesaid. And in case any of the said 
persons by these presents nominated and appointed to the respec- 
tive offices aforesaid, or who shall hereafter be elected and chosen 
thereto respectively, shall die, or on any account be removed from 
such offices respectively before the time of their respective appointed 
services shall be expired, or refuse or neglect to act in and execute 
the office for which he or they shall be so elected and chosen, or is 
or are herein nominated or appointed, that then, and in any and 
every such case, it shall and may be lawful for the members of our 
said body corporate hereby erected to meet at such time and times, 
and at such place and places within our said City of New York, 
and upon such notices and sununons as shall for that purpose be 
established and directed by the by-laws or regulations of our said 
body corporate, and there, by the majority of such of them as shall 
so meet, elect and choose other or others to the said offices respec- 
tively in the place of him or them so d)dng, removing, neglecting or 
refusing to act in manner and form, and after the same method to 
be observed in the annual elections of the like officers respectively, 
by virtue of these our letters patent, and the said by-laws or regula- 
tions of our said Corporation, hereby giving and granting that such 
person or persons as shall be so elected and chosen by the majority 
of such of the said members as shall meet in manner aforesaid, shall 
have, hold, exercise and enjoy such the office or offices to which he 
or they shall be so elected and chosen, from the time of such election 
until the first Tuesday in May then next ensuing, and until other 
or others be legally chosen in his or their place and stead, as fully 
and amply, to all intents and purposes whatsoever, as the person 



And elect one 
President, one 
or more Vice- 
Presidents, one 
or more Trea- 
surers, and one 
Secretary, for 
one year. 

And until 

other fit per- 
sons be chosen. 



In case any 
of the present 
or future offi- 
cers shall die or 
be removed. 



others may be 
elected,! 



upon notice 
given, 

by a majority 
of votes. 



who shall exer- 
cise the offices 
until the first 
of May follow- 
ing. 



' I 



I 



238 



APPENDIX 



Iff! 

r 



Officers to 
take an oath or 
affirmation be- 
fore the Presi- 
dent or Vice- 
President, for 
the faithful dis- 
charge of their 
duty. 



•The first Tues- 
day in May in 
every year. 



The President 
or any one of 
the Vice-Presi- 
dents, with 
such a number 
of the members 
as the by-laws 
direct, to be a 
legal meeting 
to adjourn 
from day to 
day, 



and transact 
business, 



1 



or persons in whose place he or they shaU be chosen might or could 
have done by virtue of these presents. And our will and pleasure 
is and we do hereby for us, our heirs and successors, ordain, direct 
and require, that every President, Vice-President, Treasurer and 
Secretary to be elected by virtue of these presents, shall, before 
they act in their respective offices, take an oath or affirmation to be 
to them administered by the President, or in his absence, by one 
of the Vice-Presidents of the preceding year, (who are hereby 
authorized to administer the same,) for the faithful and due execu- 
tion of their respective offices during their contmuance in the same 
respectively. And we do further, for us, our heirs and successors, 
give and grant to the Corporation of the Chamber of Commerce 
in the City of New York, in America, and their successors for ever, 
that besides the annual meeting of our said Corporation herem 
before directed and appointed to be held on the first Tuesday m 
May in every year, it shall and may be lawful for them, their heirs 
and successors, for ever hereafter, for promoting and carrying into 
execution the laudable intents and designs aforesaid, and for the 
transacting the business and concerns of our said Corporation, to 
meet together on the first Tuesday in every month, for ever, at 
such place or places in our said City of New York as shall for that 
purpose be estabUshed, fixed, ascertained and appointed by the by- 
laws and regulations of our said corporation; and that the members 
of our said Corporation being so met, or so many of them in number 
at the least as shall by the by-laws or ordinances of our said Cor- 
poration be for that purpose from time to time estabUshed, directed, 
ordained or appomted, shaU, togetiier witii the President or any 
one of the Vice-Presidents of our said Corporation for the time be- 
ing be a legal meeting of our said Corporation; and they or the 
major part of tiiem so met, shaU have fuU power and autiionty 
to adjourn from day to day, or for any otiier time, as tiie business 
of our said Corporation may require, and to do, execute and per- 
form aU and every act and acts, thing and things whatsoever which 
the said Corporation of the Chamber of Commerce in the City of 
New York, in America, are or shall by these letters patent be au- 
thorized to do, act or transact, in as full and ample manner as 
if all and every of the members of the said Corporation were pres- 
ent. And that at any such legal meeting of the said Corporation, 
they shaU and may in writing, under the common seal, make, frame, 
constitute, establish and ordain, from time to time, and at all times 
hereafter, such laws, constitutions, ordinances, regulations and 






APPENDIX 



239 



statutes, for the better government of the officers and members of 
the said Corporation, for fixing and ascertaining the places of 
meeting of our said Corporation as aforesaid, and for regulating 
all other their affairs and business as they, or the major part of 
them so legally met, shall judge best for the general good of the 
said Corporation, and profitable for the more effectually promoting 
the beneficial designs of their institution; — all which laws, constitu- 
tions, regulations, ordinances and statutes so to be made, framed, 
constituted, established and ordained as aforesaid, we will, com- 
mand and ordain by these presents for us, our heirs and successors, 
to be from time to time and at all times hereafter, kept, obeyed and 
performed in all things as the same ought to be, on the penalties 
and amercements in the same to be imposed and Umited, so as the 
same laws, constitutions, regulations and statues be reasonable 
in themselves, and not repugnant or contrary to the laws and stat- 
utes of that part of our kingdom of Great Britain called England, 
nor of our said province of New York. And for the keeping up and 
preserving forever hereafter a succession of members for the said 
Corporation, our will and pleasure is, and we do hereby for us, our 
heirs and successors, ordain and give and grant to the said Corpora- 
tion of the Chamber of Commerce in the City of New York, in 
America, and their successors for ever, that at any of the stated legal 
meetings of the said Corporation, to be held on the first Tuesday in 
every month for ever hereafter, but at no other meeting of our said 
Corporation, it shall and may be lawful for them and their suc- 
cessors forever, to elect and choose, in such manner and form, and 
upon such terms and conditions, as shall be directed, ordained and 
established for that purpose by any of the said by-laws, statutes, 
constitutions or ordinances of the said Corporation, such and so 
many persons to be members of the said Corporation as they shall 
think beneficial to the laudable designs of the said Corporation; 
which persons, and every of them so from time to time elected and 
chosen, shall, by virtue of these presents and of such election, be 
vested with all the powers, authorities and privileges which any 
member of the said Corporation is hereby invested with. And in 
case any other extraordinary meeting or meetings of the said Cor- 
poration shall at any time or times be judged necessary for the pro- 
moting the interest and business of the said Corporation, we do 
hereby for us, our heirs and successors, will, declare and ordain, 
that it shall and may be lawful for our said corporation to meet 
from time to time, at such days and times, and at such places in 



and be obeyed. 



so that they are 
not repugnant 
or contrary to 
the laws of 
Great Britain 
and New. York. 



For the suc- 
cession of 
members, 



at stated'meet- 
ingsonly. 



to elect and 
choose, 



who are to 
have all the 
privileges that 
any member is 
hereby invest- 
ed with. 

Extraordi- 
nary meeting 



I 



V i 



h 



w 



240 



APPENDIX 



to meet upon 
DOtke, 



to be legal, 



but not to elect 
members, make 
laws.or dispose 
cd reial estate. 



To be held in 
the Exchange. 

No act done 
in any meeting 
to be valid (un- 
less a given 
number be 
present). 






I!'' 



I 

! 



our said City of New York, and upon such notices or summons as 
shall for that purpose from time to time be settled, established, 
directed, ordained and appointed for that purpose, shall, together 
with the President, or one of the Vice-Presidents of the said Cor- 
poration for the time being, be a legal meetmg of the said Corpora- 
tion; and they, or the major part of them so met, shall have full 
power and authority to act, transact, do and perform all and singu- 
lar whatsoever may be transacted, done and performed at any of 
the hereby stated meetings aforesaid of the said Corporation, saving 
and except the electing members, making laws, ordinances and 
statutes, and disposing of the real estates of the said Corporation. 
And our will and pleasure is, that until the same shall be otherwise 
regulated as aforesaid, that the meetings of the said Corporation 
shall be held in the great room of the building commonly called the 
Exchange, situate at the lower end of the street called Broad-street, 
in the said City of New York; and that until the same shall be also 
otherwise regulated as aforesaid, that no act done in any meeting 
of the said Corporation shall be legal, good or valid, unless the 
President, or one of the Vice-Presidents, and twenty others of the 
members of the said Corporation at the least be present, and the 
major part of them consenting thereto. And we do further give 
and grant to the said Corporation of the Chamber of Commerce 
in the City of New York, in America, that it shall and may be law- 
ful for the President of the said Corporation, at all times hereafter 
for ever, to appoint a door-keeper, one or more messenger or mes- 
sengers, and all such other inferior officers as shall by him be thought 
necessary for the said Corporation, and to displace them, and any 
or every of them, at his will and pleasure. Provided, nevertheless, 
that no such door-keeper, messenger or other officer shall hold his 
or their office or offices by virtue of any such appointment longer 
than until the then next lawful meeting of our said Corporation, 
imless such person or persons so appointed shall be then approved 
of by the majority of such of the members of the said Corporation 
as shall then be met. And we do further, of our special grace, cer- 
tain knowledge, and mere motion, for us, our heirs and successors, 
grant and ordain, that when and as often as the President, or any 
Vice-President, Treasurer or Secretary of the said Corporation shall 
misdemean himself in his or their said offices respectively, and there- 
upon a complaint or charge in writing shall be exhibited against 
him or them, by any member of the said Corporation, at any legal 
meeting or meetings of the said Corporation, that it shall and may 






APPENDIX 



241 



be lawful for the members of the said Corporation then met, or the 
major part of them, from time to time, upon examination and due 
proof, to suspend or discharge such President, Vice-President, 
Treasurer or Secretary, from their offices respectively, although 
the yearly or other time for their respective services shall not be 
expired, any thing before in these presents contained to the con- 
trary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. And further, we do by 
these presents for us, our heirs and successors, give and grant 
unto the said Corporation of the Chamber of Commerce in the 
City of New York, in America, and their successors for ever, that 
this our present Charter shall be deemed, adjudged and con- 
strued in all cases most favorably, and for the best benefit and ad- 
vantage of our said Corporation, and for promoting the good inten- 
tions and designs hereinbefore expressed, inducing us graciously 
to grant the same; and that this our present grant, being entered 
on record as hereinafter is expressed, or the enrohnent thereof, 
shall be for ever hereafter good and effectual in the law, according 
to our true intent and meaning hereinbefore declared, without any 
other license, grant or confirmation from us, our heirs and suc- 
cessors, hereafter by the said Corporation to be had or obtained, 
notwithstanding the not reciting or misrecital, or not naming or 
misnaming of the aforesaid offices, franchises, privileges, immuni- 
ties or other the premises, or any of them, and although no writ 
of ad quo damnum, or other writs, inquisitions or precepts hath been 
upon this occasion had, made, issued or prosecuted, any statute, 
act, ordinance or provision, or other matter or thing to the con- 
trary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. In testimony whereof, 
we have caused these our letters to be made patent, and the great 
seal of our said province to be hereunto affixed, and the same to 
be entered on record in our Secretary's office, for our said province, 
in one of the books of patents there remaining. 

Witness our trusty and well-beloved Cadwallader Colden, 
Esquire, our Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief of 
our said province of New York and the territories depending 
thereon, in America, by and with the advice and consent of our 
Council for our said province, at Fort George, in our City of New 
York, this thirteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand seven hundred and seventy, and of our reign the tenth. 



} • 



) ] 



W«W-^ft-»-a IL^ . 



r-*-.. 



Preamble. 






( 



in 

REAFFIRMED CHARTER 
Act of Re-incorporation of the Chamber of Commerce 

AN ACT 

to remove doubts concerning the corporation of the cham- 
ber OF COMMERCE, AND TO CONFIRM THE RIGHTS AND PRIVI- 
LEGES THEREOF. 

Passed the 13th April, 1784. 

Whereas, George the Third, King of Great Britain, did, on 
the thirteenth day of March, one thousand seven hundred and 
seventy, grant certain letters patent to the persons therein named, 
under the great seal of the then colony of New York, which said 
letters patent are in the words following, that is to say: 

(Here follows a recital of the preceding Charter.) 
Reciting the And whcicas, Samuel Broome, Jeremiah Platt, John Broome, 

TreSSofthe BENJAMIN LeDYARD, ThOMAS RANDALL, ROBERT BOWNE, DANIEL 

c^S)ration. * Phcenix, Jacob Morris, Eliphalet Brush, James Jarvis, John 
Blagge, Viner Van Zandt, Stephen Sayre, Jacobus Van Zandt, 
Nathaniel Hazard, Thomas Hazard, Abraham P. Lott, Abra- 
ham DuRYEE, William Malcolm, John Alsop, Isaac Sears, 
James Beekman, Abraham Lott, Comfort Sands, Joseph 
Blackwell, Joshua Sands, Lawrence Embree, George Em- 
bree, Gerardus Duyckinck, Jun., Cornelius Ray, Anthony 
Griffiths, Thomas Tucker, John Berrian, Isaac Roosevelt, 
John Franklin, John H. Kip, Henry H. Kip, Archibald Cur- 
RiE David Currie, and Jonathan Lawrence, all of the said city, 
merchants, have by their humble petition set forth, that the said 
letters patent, and the powers and privileges exercised and en- 
joyed under the same, have greatly promoted the commeraal in- 
terests of this State, and that great and daily inconveniences and 
injury are suffered by the suspension thereof, and have prayed 
that the said letters patent, with all and singular the powers and 

242 



> 



APPENDIX 



243 



Charter of the 
Chamber of 
Comm erce 
oonfiimed. 



notwithstand- 
ing any noo- 
user, between 
the 19th of 
April,i775.and 
the date of this 
Act. 

Members of 
the present 
Chamber of 
Commerce. 



franchises therein contained, may be revived, confirmed and 

established: 

1, Beit therefore enacted by the people of the State of New York, 
represented in Senate and Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the 
authority of the same, That the said letters patent, and all and singu- 
lar the powers, rights, privileges, franchises and immunities therein 
and thereby granted, shall be, and the same are hereby ratified and 
confirmed; and the said letters patent, and all and every other 
former rights, privileges, franchises and immunities therein and 
thereby granted, shall be and remain in full force and efficacy, 
notwithstanding any non-user or mis-user of any of the said powers, 
rights, privileges, franchises and immunities heretofore had, com- 
mitted, done or suffered, between the nineteenth day of April, 
one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, and the day of the 
passing of this Act. And the said Samuel Broome, Jeremiah 
Platt, John Broome, Benjamin Ledyard, Thomas Randall, 
Robert Bowne, Daniel Phcenix, Jacob Morris, Eliphalet 
Brush, James Jarvis, John Blagge, Viner Van Zandt, Stephen 
Sayre, Jacobus Van Zandt, Nathaniel Hazard, Thomas 
Hazard, Abraham P. Lott, Abraham Duryee, Willmm Mal- 
colm, John Alsop, Isaac Sears, James Beekman, Abraham 
Lott, Comfort Sands, Joseph Blackwell, Joshua Sands, Law- 
rence Embree, George Embree, Gerardus Duyckinck, Jr., 
Cornelius Ray, Anthony Griffiths, Thomas Tucker, John 
Berrian, Isaac Roosevelt, John Franklin, John H. Kip, 
Henry H. Kip, Archibald Currie, David Currie and Jona- 
than Lawrence, shall and may for ever hereafter remain, con- 
tinue, and be a body corporate and politic in deed, fact and name, 
by the name of "The Corporation of the Chamber of Com- 
merce OF the State of New York," and by that name to sue, 
plead and be impleaded, and to answer and to be answered. 

2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That the ^f |»^J^/ 
said John Alsop shall be the present President, and the above vfce-Presi-' 
named Isaac Sears the present Vice-President; that the above ^d^seSwf 
named John Broome, the present Treasurer, and the above named 
John Blagge, the present Secretary of the said Corporation, who 
shall hold, possess and enjoy their said respective offices, until the 
first Tuesday in May now next ensuing; and in case any or either 
of the said persons hereby nominated and appointed to the re- 



Name erf the 

E resent Cham- 
er of Com- 
merce. 



Their omtixH 
uance in office* 



4 






A 



t' 



1> 



244 



APPENDIX 



I ■ 



A .snective offices aforesaid, shaU happen to die, or shall neglect or 
■"^^"'^ rS to Sun or execute, or shall be removed from such office 
^.tc'.yS,"!? ;f Xls re^ctively, befo;e the said first Tuesday in May next, 
P^idency.^c. ^^^^ ^^ j„ Jery such case, it shaU and may be lawful for 
theTembers of the said body corporate to meet at suA fame 
and times, and such place and places within the said aty as tiiey 
shall for that purpose appoint, and upon such notices or summons 
as have heretofore been used and esUblished by the said body 
corporate, and then and there, by the majority o suA as shaU ^ 
mS to elect and choose other or others to the said office or offices 
respectively, in tiie place of him or tiiem so dymg, or neglecting 
o%Sg to act, or being removed, in the manner heretofore 
used in the amiual elections of tiie Uke officers, which person or 
persons so elected and chosen, shall enjoy and exerase tiie said office 
Offices, and aU and singular tiie privileges and Pojers thereto 
belonging or appertaining, until tiie said first Tuesday in May 
next. 
.„ , ■>. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That The 

r^Z. ITZ co^rSon of tiie Chamber of Commerce of tiie State of New 
Jj.'Tetn^t YoA!and tiieir successors, shaU and may for ever hereafter, peace- 
corporation. . ' ^^ ^^^ ^^j ^ ^nd every tiie rights, powei^, 

Uberties, privileges, franchises, usages, lands, tenement, estates 
and h«;<maments which have heretofore, by virtue of tiie above 
redted Ch^ter, been given or granted unto tiie said Corporation, 
by Se namJof'The Corporation of tiie Chamber of Commerce m 
the City of New York, in America. 

AMENDMENTS 
AN ACT 

TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO REMOVE ^^^'^''^'^^ 
ING THE CORPORATION OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, AND 
TO CONFIRM THE RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES THEREOF, PASSED 
THE 13TH DAV OF APRIL, 1 784. 

Passed January 25th, 1854- 

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and 

Assembly, do enact as follows: 

SECTION I Such part of tiie letters patent under George the 
Third, King of Great Britain, bearing date istii March, 1770, 



I I 



I '^\ 



APPENDIX 



24s 



confirmed by act of the Legislature of the State of New York, 
comirmea Dy as required the Chamber of Commerce 

under date 13th Apnl, 1 7»4, ^^^^^^^ ^ ^ ^^^^ ^haU be Meetings to 

of New York to meet on the first iuesaay 01 edcn "*""";» be held on such 

so altered or amended as to permit of the regular monthly meet- a.^sin^he^t 

mg being held on the first week in f ^h,^;^^^>;^^^^^^^ ^ F^^enfsia^S 

such week as the President or other duly authorized members ot ^^^^^^^ 

said Corporation may designate. 
Section 2. This act shaU take effect immediately. 






Election and 



AN ACT 

TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO REMOVE DOUBTS CONCERN- 
ING THE CORPORATION OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, AND TO 
CONFIRM THE RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES THEREOF, PASSED 
APRIL 13TH, 1784. 

Passed April 15th, 1861. 

The People of the State of New York, represented in SenaU and 

Assembly do enact as follows: 

SECTION I. The Chamber of Commerce of the State of New 
York shall have the power to elect, by ballot, in conformity with 
the by-laws adopted by the said Chamber, a committee to be ^^'^^-—^ 
known and styled the "Arbitration Committee of the Chamber committees. 
of Commerce," and shaU have power also to appoint a Committee 
of Appeal: and the duly elected members of the said Chamber, and 
all persons claiming by, through, or under them, may, under the lim- 
itations, and subject to the restrictions unposed by the provisions 
of the statutes of the State of New York relative to arbitration, 
submit to the decision of the Committees of Arbitration and Ap- 
peal, as the same may be constituted by tiie said Chamber, any con- 
troversy existing between them which might be tiie subject of an 
action, and may agree that a final judgment, in a court of record, 
to be by them designated, shaU be rendered on any award made 
pursuant to such submission. 

SECTION 2 The Committee of Arbitration and Appeal, elected or 
appointed as aforesaid, shall possess the same powers be subject 
to^e same duties and disabiUties as appertam to^ arbitrators by 
the laws of the State of New York, and awards made by tiiem must 
be made, and may be enforced, as tiierein and thereby directed; 



u 



Powers and 
duties. 



246 



APPENDIX 



I 



f i 



n 



and all the provisions contained in title fourteen, part third, chap- 
ter eight of the Revised Statutes of the State of New York, and aU 
acts amendatory or in substitution thereof, shall apply to the pro- 
ceedings had before the said Committees of Arbitration and Appeal, 
as if speciaUy incorporated herein; except that the judgment, to be 
rendered in the manner therein directed, on any award made by 
In regard to them as aforesaid, that is to say by the Committee of Arbitration, 
r e V e r sal of ^^ J f ^om its action being taken by either party to the contro- 

judgment. ^^^^^^ ^^ ^y ^^ confirmatory action of the Committee of Appeal 
shall kot be subject to be removed, reversed, modified or appealed 
from by the parties interested, in such submission as aforesaid. 

Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately. 

AN ACT 

TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED 
'AN ACT TO REMOVE DOUBTS CONCERNING THE CORPORATION 
OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, AND TO CONFIRM THE RIGHTS 
AND PRIVILEGES THEREOF,' PASSED APRIL THIRTEENTH, SEVEN- 
TEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FOUR," PASSED APRIL FIFTEENTH, 
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-ONE. 

Passed April 22, 1865. 

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- 
bly j do enact as follows: 

Section i. Controversies submitted to the Committee of 
Arbitration of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New 
York under the Act entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 
*An act to remove doubts concerning the Corporation of the 
Chamber of Commerce, and to confirm the rights and privileges 
thereof,' passed April thirteenth, seventeen hundred and eighty- 
' four " passed April fifteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, may 

be heard and decided by a majority of the members of the said 
Committee. 

Section 2. The members of said Committee of Arbitration shall 
shau take oath not be obUged to be sworn after the manner of Arbitrators but shall, 
afrea/usTice before assumiug the duties of their office, take an oath before a 
ofjjhe supreme ^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ faithfully and fairly to hear and ex- 



I 



i 



\ 



) 



APPENDIX 



247 



amine all matters in controversy submitted to them ^der the 
act aforesaid, and make a just award according to the best of their 
understanding. Such oath shall be filed with the Secretary of 
the Chamber of Commerce. 

Section 3. The Chairman for the time being of said Committee ^^^c^fi^^J" 
of Arbitration shaU have power to administer the oath to all wit- ^r jo^du 
nesses produced before said Committee in matters of controversy ^ witnesses, 
submitted to said Committee. 

Section 4. This act shall take effect immediately. 

AN ACT 

TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF THE CORPORATION OF THE CHAMBER 
OF COMMERCE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

Passed April 6th, 1878. 

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and 

Assembly, do enact as follows: 

Section i. The Corporation of the Chamber of Commerce of 
the State of New York, re-incorporated by an act of the Legisla- 
ture of the State of New York, passed on the 13th day of April, 
1784 is hereby empowered to take and receive from the Umted 
States of America, or from any Corporation, or from any person, or 
persons, any real or personal estate, also to take by devise or pur- 
chase any real or personal estate, for the purposes of said Corpora- 
tion, and to convey, lease or mortgage the same, or any part thereof, 
the net annual income of which real estate shaU not exceed one 
hundred thousand dollars. 

Secteon 2 It shall be lawful for the said Corporation to elect, 
from among its members, at its first meeting caUed for the purpose 
after the passage of this act, six Trustees, who, with the Presi- 
dent of said Corporation, shall constitute a Board, and have the 
charge and control of the real estate of said Corporation; said 
Trustees, at said first election, shaU be classified so that two of 



Chamber of 
Commerce to 
receive irom 
the United 
States, or any 
Corporation or 
person, real or 
personal es- 
tate, and may 
convey or lease 
the same. 

Income of 
which real es- 
tate not to ex- 
ceed $100,000 
per annum. 



Election of a 
Board of Trus- 
tees. 



Trustees to 
irUSteeS, at sam mau ^-iv-v,i^v^x», ^..^^^ -w _. . have control of 

them be elected for one year; twoof them for two years; and two of j^^ute^-^ 
them for three years; and at each annual election after the first, 
two Trustees shall be elected to fill the class of those whose terms 






V 



i 



\ ''\ 



^i. 



« > ' <• « 






■l!i 



I 



i 



248 



APPENDIX 



Conveyances, 
Mortgages, 
Leases and 
Contracts au- 
thorized by 
Trustees under 
seal of the Cor- 
po rati on, at- 
tested by Presi- 
dent and Sec- 
retary. 



expire; and said Corporation, at any regiilar meeting of the 
Chamber, shall have power to fill any vacancy in said Board of 
Trustees. 

Section 3. All conveyances, mortgages, leases or contracts, of, 
or affecting, any real estate of said Corporation, shall be author- 
ized by said Board of Trustees, and President of the Chamber, or 
of a majority thereof; and shall, when so authorized, be executed 
under the seal of the Corporation, attested by the signatures of 
the President and Secretary of the Chamber. 

Section 4. This act shall take effect immediately. 



H 



:'»..y,.fvV 



IV 



BY-LAWS 

By-Laws of the Corporation of the Chamber of Commerce 
OF the State of New York, in Force May, 191 7 

Article I 
officers and their election 
The officers of the Chamber shall be a President, twelve Vice- 
Presidents, a Treasurer, an Executive Officer and a Secretary, all of 
whom shall be chosen by baUot, and a majority of the votes cast at 
each election shaU be necessary in each instance to elect. 

At the first regular meeting in May, 1894, all of the foregomg 
Officers shaU be chosen, and they shall hold office for one year, ex- 
cept as hereinafter provided. 

As soon as convenient after the election aforesaid, the Vice- 
Presidents so elected shall meet and divide into four classes, by al- 
lotment, of three to each class. The first class to serve for one 
year; the second class for two years; the third class for three 
years, and the fourth class for four Xf;^; ^^er the expiratioii of 
their respective terms of office they shaU be mehgible for re-elec- 
tion until one year has intervened. „ J „ ti,„,.^ 
At the first regular meeting in May, 189S, and annuaUy there- 
after, there shall be chosen a President, a Treasurer, an ExeoiUve 
Officer and a Secretary, to serve for one year, and three Vice-Presi- 
dents, to serve for the term of four years, m place of those whose 
terms of office shall then expire. 

All persons elected to office shall take the oath or affirmaUon 
required by the Charter, and shall continue in office as above pro- 
vided, or untU their successors shall have become duly quahfied 

according to the Charter. . 

Should any person so elected decline to serve, or resign his office, 
or his office become vacant by his death, or disabiUty, the vacancy 
shall be filled by an election at the next regular or any subsequent 
meeting of the Chamber, held after such declination or resigna- 
tion shall have been reported to the Chamber. 

249 



i\ 



.^jjpMlMaBta^ii MiiiriTTi 



250 



APPENDIX 



V 



No person shall hold the office of President for more than three 
successive yearly terms, unless he shall be re-elected by a vote of 
three-fourlis of the ballots cast at the election; and the same vote 
shall be necessary for each succeeding re-election of the same 
person to the same office thereafter. 

Article n 

MEETINGS 

The regular meetings of the Chamber for the transaction of 
business shall be held in the Hall of the Chamber on the first 
Thursday in each month, (the summer vacation only excepted,) 
at twelve o^clock noon. When the first Thursday in any month 
shall fall on a legal holiday, the regular monthly meeting shall be 
held on the Thursday following, imless otherwise ordered by a 
vote of the Chamber. 

Special meetings may be held at such other places, and at such 
other times as the President, or, in his absence, one of the Vice- 
Presidents, according to seniority, may designate, upon the written 
requisition of ten members; provided that one day's notice of the 
time, place and object of the meeting shall have been pubhcly 
given; and also provided, that no other business except that desig- 
nated in such call and notice shall be acted upon. 

Article III 

MEMBERS AND THEIR ELECTION 

No persons shall be admitted members of this Corporation but 
merchants or others resident of this or contiguous States engaged 
in trade or commerce, or in pursuits directly connected therewith. 

All nominations for membership of the Chamber must be made 
in writing, signed by one member, seconded by another member, 
together with a statement of the occupation and qualification of 
the candidate, and be addressed to the Executive Conmaittee for 
consideration. 

If the Executive Committee approve the nomination, they shall 
report the same to the Chamber at the first regular meeting there- 
after. The candidate shall be then balloted for; and if five or 
more negative ballots appear, he cannot be admitted a member, 
nor be again proposed until after the expiration of a year from the 
time of such rejection. 



it' 



TtVA 



APPENDIX 



251 



The Chamber may expel any member for dishonorable conduct 
or dealings, but only after a hearing of such member at a regular 
meeting, and by a two-thirds vote of the members present. Proj^ 
vided that the Executive Committee shall have recommended 
such expulsion, and that due notice be given by the Secretary of the 
Chamber, both to the accused member and to the Chamber at 
large, of the day when such hearmg may be had; and also provided, 
that if the accused member do not appear for such hearing, in per- 
son or by proxy, the vote may be taken on his expulsion as though 

he had appeared. ,1. 

The Secretary of the Chamber shall f urmsh to each member who 
may apply therefor, and who shaU have paid his admission or 
annual fees, an engraved certificate of membership, duly signed 

and authenticated. 

There shall be two classes of members; resident, who reside or 
do business in the City of New York; all others shall be classed as 

non-resident. 1 j ^ ^u 

When the number of the former shall have reached two thou- 
sand (exclusive of Honorary members,) and that of the latter two 
hundred and fifty, no more shall thereafter be admitted, except to 
fill vacancies. 

Article IV 

HONORARY MEMBERS 

Honorary members may be elected at any meeting of the Cham- 
ber whether regular or special, on the nomination of the Executive 
Committee, and without baUot, unless called for. They shaU be 
entitled to all the privileges of regular members, and be exempt 
from payment of any fees whatever. , ,. 1 j 

The Secretary shall furnish each honorary member, thus elected, 
with a certificate of membership, duly signed and authenticated. 



I 



Article V 



FEES 



Each member elected to the Chamber shall pay a fee of fifty 
dollars, which shall be in full for all dues until the first of January 
next succeeding his election, and thereafter shall pay an annual fee 
of fifty dollars on the first of January in each year. For members 



•fi 



I 



t^ 



1) 



252 



APPENDIX 



not residing or doing business in the City of New York the fee shall 
be one-half the above amounts, payable in like manner. 

Every new member shall pay upon election an initiation fee of 
fifty dollars. 

The Executive Committee may, in its discretion, for reasons satis- 
factory to itself, remit the annual dues of any member; and it may 
accept the resignation of any member, at any time, if the annual 
fees of such member, to the date of such resignation, shall have been 
paid or remitted. 

If the fees of any member remain unpaid for a term of two years, 
the name of such defaulting member may be stricken from the rolls 
of the Chamber by order of the Executive Committee. 

Article VI 

DUTIES OF OFFICERS 

Of the President, — ^The President shall exercise a general super- 
vision of the affairs and interests of the Chamber. He shall pre- 
side at all meetings of the Chamber, regular and special, and all 
motions of business and adjoiurnment shall be addressed to him. 
He shall appoint all Special Committees, except where the Cham- 
ber shall otherwise order. He shall sign all official documents of 
the Chamber. He shall countersign the annual accoimts of the 
Treasurer, when duly audited. He shall call special meetings of 
the Chamber, on the written requisition of not less than ten men- 
bers, stating the object thereof, and shall designate the time and 
place at which such special meeting may be held, and direct the 
due notification thereof. 

Of the Vice-Presidents.— The Vice-Presidents, in the order of 
seniority, shall, in the absence of the President, have the same 
power and authority as the President. 

Of the Treasurer. — ^The Treasurer shall have the charge of all 
moneys collected or received for the use of the Chamber, except 
money arising from or in any way connected with its real estate, or 
appropriated for, or received to acquire or improve the same. He 
shall disburse the same whenever not otherwise provided for by 
these by-laws, only upon the written warrants of the Executive 
Committee. He shall keep books of account of all receipts and 
disbursements, and the vouchers therefor, in the usual form, and 
shall produce a copy of the same, fairly stated, for the inspection of 



APPENDIX 



253 



the members, at each annual meeting. Such a copy of accounts 
shall be duly audited by auditors appointed for the purpose by the 
Chamber, and be signed by them and countersigned by the Presi- 
dent, on or before the Tuesday next preceding the annual meeting. 
The Treasurer shall deliver over to his successor the cash remaining 
in his hands, as also any certificates of stock or other securities, 
the property of this Chamber, together with the books of account, 
chest and key, and may require a receipt therefor. In the absence 
of the Treasurer-elect, the same shall be delivered to the President. 
In the absence of the Treasurer, the Chairman of the Executive 
Committee shall perform the duties assigned to the Treasurer. 

Of the Executive Officer. — ^The Executive Officer shall have the 
supervision and representation of the Chamber in its correspon- 
dence, publicity work and external relations. 

He shall have charge, imder the general guidance of the Execu- 
tive Committee, of the publications of the Chamber, such as the 
Monthly Bulletin, special reports, and the Annual Report, and in 
general shall have the editing of all documents that are to be pub- 
lished or to be given to the Press. 

He shall, as far as is practicable, be in attendance at the meetings 
of the Standing and Special Committees, and when desired, assist 
in their deliberations. 

He shall give all of his time to the business of the Chamber. 

He shall conduct researches and assist the Chamber and its Com- 
mittees in obtaining complete information on all subjects upon 
which they may be called upon to report and act, and shall keep 
constant watch for those subjects and opportunities for usefulness 
which may fall within the general scope of the Chamber's activities 
and direct the attention of the Officers and Chairmen of the vari- 
ous committees thereto. 

In the absence of the Secretary he shall act in his place and shall 
exercise his powers. 

Of the Secretary. — ^The Secretary shall devote himself entirely to 
the affairs of the Chamber. He shall be the custodian of the Hall 
and other rooms, and other property of the Chamber, except its 
real estate, and shall have the general care of the furniture, library, 
pictures, portraits, and of all docmnents and correspondence be- 
longing to the Corporation. He shall keep such property insured 
against fire. He shall attend all meetings, and keep a fair and 
correct register of all proceedings, rules and regulations of the 
Chamber, which shall be regularly entered in the book of minutes, 



1 









ijdi 



II 



III' 



I 



I 



APPENDIX 
254 

. ^ ^ TT- 5i,„ii also attend upon and keep min- 

tSTt'.TXSonl^lS^^^^-i ot^er Standing Com- 
Sl and shaTas'ist the Special Conunittees as ar as m h.s 
™Jer He shall have charge of the office «taff and shaU see Jat aU 

Xfr; and Comnuttees of the ^^f^^'^l'^^^^^^t,^^ 
clerical assistance as they may need. He f'^'y^^'l^^Xs 
of the President, conduct the co««f'!^<^ence °f the »er,^ 
related to its internal and local adnunistraUon. He shaU amy 

clTthltci;^ s3, after'reasonable delay, adjourn the 

""nel^rset'to the collection of aU dues from members, and 
rejLrt return the same to the Treasurer and shall render hrm 

Xqui^red assisunce in the clerical P^ft °£ »"f ^f^^^^^,, com- 
A« AQd«;taTit Secretary may be appointed by the l^xecuuve ^om 
J^ee SslalSsTthe'secretary in 1?>e P^rf™- " ^^^ 
T£t and in the Secretary's absence act m his place. He shaU 
hold office durmg the pleasure of the Committee. 

Article VII 

BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE WEAL ESTATE 

Flection -At each annual meeting of the Chamber there shall be 
''^- tJ.^ SSIo el«rf Ml, with tta Pr.»d«l, con- 

Slu Sed atthe next regular or any subsequent meeting of the 

X'";.n. P./.-.s.-The President of the Chamber shaU^^^^^^^ 
Chairman of the Board of Trustees ex.offic^o, and sa d ^o^^^^l 
Sect a Treasurer and a ^e-taxy;^^^^^^^^^ 

S:dy, lu^aX^naglm:^^^^^^^^^^^ estate of tl. Co^^^^^^^ 
S' and of all funds and other property appropriated or received 



nil 



APPENDIX 



255 



for the purchase, improvement, or any other purpose affecting real 
estate, and shall have full power in the name of the Chamber to 
contract for and acquire such real estate as it may deem wise, 
and to improve the same by demolition, alteration or erection 
of buildings or otherwise, adopt plans, modify the same from time 
to time, and make all appropriate contracts therefor and for the 
management of said real estate. The Board may provide for such 
compensation to its appointees and assistants as it may deem wise, 
and pay the same from any funds in its control. No sale or mort- 
gage of the real estate shall be made, except by authority of the 
Chamber by resolution adopted at a regular meeting or special 
meeting called for that purpose. All conveyances, mortgages, 
leases or contracts of, or affecting the real estate of the Chamber, 
shall be authorized by said Board and the President, or a majority 
thereof, and shall, when so authorized, be executed under the 
seal of the Corporation, attested by the signatures of the President 
and Secretary of the Chamber. 

The Hall shall be used exclusively for meetings of the Chamber, 
unless consent for other temporary use be given by a two-thirds 
vote of the Board of Trustees of the Real Estate and the President 
of the Chamber at a regular meeting or special meetmg called for 

that purpose. 

The Board shall annually, and from time to time as it deems wise, 
make reports to the Chamber. 

The Board is authorized and empowered in the name of the 
Chamber to execute, issue and deliver certificates of indebtedness 
for subscriptions to the building fund received under letter of the 
Building Committee of May 7th, 1897, or under any other plan for 
providing funds to erect a building for the use of the Chamber, 
which certificates shall be of such form and contain such provisions 
as the Board may from time to time prescribe. 

The Board is authorized and empowered to receive from the 
Treasurer of the Chamber all gifts and bequests of money or se- 
curities given to the Chamber in trust in the way of endowment or 
otherwise, for any object connected with the operations of the 
Chamber, except the Charity Fund, and to invest, control, manage 
and disburse the same as provided by the donors thereof. 

Duties of Officers.— The President shall preside at the meetings 
of the Board of Trustees when present, and shall perform the usual 
duties of that office. The Secretary shall keep true and careful 
minutes of the meetings, and perform such other duties as shall be 







lih 



■1 ^ 



I 



256 



APPENDIX 



assigned to him by the Board; the Treasurer shall be the custodian 
of all funds under control of the Board, shall collect and receive all 
money arising from rents or otherwise, make such disbursements 
and payments as the Board shall direct, and keep accurate books of 
account therefor. All cheques against said funds shall be signed 
by the Treasurer and President, (or, in his absence, the senior mem- 
ber of the Board,) and appropriate vouchers shall be taken for all 
disbursements. The Treasurer shall, under the direction of the 
Board, be the general manager of the real estate. 

Article VIII 

STANDING COMMITTEES 

The Standing Committees of the Chamber shall be 

An Executive Committee, which shall consist of a Chairman to 
be elected by the Chamber at the regular Annual Meeting in May 
of each year, the Chairman of the Committee on Finance and Cur- 
rency, the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Commerce and 
the Revenue Laws, the Chairman of the Committee on Internal 
Trade and Improvements, the Chairman of the Committee on the 
Harbor and Shipping, the Chairman of the Conmiittee on In- 
surance, the Chairman of the Committee on State and Municipal 
Taxation, the Chairman of the Committee on Arbitration, the 
Chairman of the Committee on Commercial Education, the Presi- 
dent of the Chamber, the senior Vice-President, the Treasurer and 
the Ex-Presidents of the Chamber. 

A Committee on Finance and Currency. 

A Committee on Foreign Commerce and the Revenue Laws. 

A Committee on Internal Trade and Improvements. 

A Committee on the Harbor and Shipping. 

A Committee on Insurance. 

A Committee on State and Mimicipal Taxation. 

A Committee on the Charity Fund of the Chamber of Commerce. 

A Committee on Arbitration. 

A Committee on Commercial Education. 

Each of these Standing Committees, except the Executive Com- 
mittee, shall consist of a Chairman and six members, who shall be 
elected at the regular annual May meeting. The Chairman shall 
continue in office during the pleasure of the Chamber. The mem- 
bers shall be elected for a term of three years, except at the election 
held in 1902, when six members shall be elected, two for a term of 



APPENDIX 



257 



one year, two for a term of two years, and two for a term of three 
years. No member of a Standing Committee, except the Executive 
Committee, shall be eligible for re-election to the same Committee 
until one year from the expiration of his term. Vacancies occur- 
ring in any Committee may be filled at any regular meeting of the 
Chamber. 

Three members of any Committee shall constitute a quorum for 
the transaction of business. 

Article IX 

DUTIES OF STANDING COMMITTEES 

Of the Executive Committee. — ^The Executive Committee shall, 
under the direction of the Chamber, have a general control of the 
property and affairs of the Chamber. It shall act as an advisory 
committee to the Secretary, and direct the preparation of the 
Annual Report of the Chamber. It shall audit all bills and claims 
against the Corporation and direct their payment, if approved, 
except bills for salaries and rent, which shall be approved by the 
President, and paid upon his order, or that of one of the Vice-Presi- 
dents, in his absence, and except all bills affecting the real estate or 
funds under control of the Board of Trustees. It shall fix the 
amount of all salaries and compensation for service. The Execu- 
tive Committee shall submit at the regular meeting preceding the 
annual election the names of seven members for appointment by 
the Chamber to nominate Officers and Standing Committees for 
election to serve for the ensuing year. It shall have power to accept 
resignations and remit fees as hereinbefore provided by Article V. 

Upon the complaint by any member charging dishonorable con- 
duct or dealings on the part of any other member, it may, in its 
discretion, report the complaint to the Chamber, with recommenda- 
tion to expel the offending member, but not otherwise; always pro- 
vided that it give to the member complained of an opportunity 
for a hearing, either in person or by proxy, before making such 
report. 

Of the Committee on the Charity Fund. — ^This Committee shall 
take charge of the moneys and securities received from Mrs. John 
C. Green, and from any other source, for benevolent purposes, 
and invest and re-invest the same from time to time, and shall have 
pKJwer to make distribution of the income thereof among those in- 
tended to be benefited. The Committee shall have power to fill 






258 



APPENDIX 






Its ^ 






any vacancies that may occur in their number by death, resignation 

or otherwise. . int. 

Of the CommUtee on Arbitration.-T\As Committee shaU have 
complete supervision of aU matters of arbitration referred to the 
Chamber and shaU make rules and regulations for the conduct and 
disposition of aU matters submitted in arbitration; it shaU provide 
a form of agreement not inconsistent with existing provisions of 
law by which, so far as practicable, the decision of the arbitrator 
or arbitrators shall become as effective as a judgment of the Su- 
preme Court. . V 4. c 
It shall compile and from time to time revise and keep a hst ot 
quaUfied persons, not less than fifty, wiUing to act as arbitrators 
under these rules, who shall be members of the Chamber. This 
list shaU be known as— "The List of Official Arbitrators 
of the Chamber of Commerce. 

Any matter in controversy may be referred by the disputants 
signing the form of agreement provided by the Committee, together 
with a stipulation to the effect that they wiU abide by the deasion 
of the arbitrator or arbitrators, by them selected, and waiving any 
and all right to withdraw from such submission after the acceptance 
of their appointment by their arbitrator or arbitrators selected, 
and designating at their option either . ^^ . , * u-. 

(a.) One of the persons named in said "List of Offiaal Arbitra- 
tors," who shall act as sole arbitrator; or 

(b ) Any two persons to act as arbitrators, who in turn shaU 
designate from said "List of Official Arbitrators" a third person to 
be associated with them as arbitrators; or 

(c.) The Committee on Arbitration of the Chamber of Com- 
merce or a quorum thereof. ^ ^ 

In any case the Committee on Arbitration may, m its discretion, 
decUne to entertain a matter submitted for arbitration, in which 
event the selection of special Arbitrator or Arbitrators shall be void. 
The Committee on Arbitration shaU, from time to time, estabhsh 
a schedule of moderate fees to be paid in all matters submitted, 
which fees shall be chargeable as decided by the arbitrators. 

The Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce shall be the Clerk 
of the Committee on Arbitration. 

OF OTHER STANDING COMMITTEES 

Their duties shall be to examine into and make report upon such 
subjects as may be referred to tiiem by tiie Chamber, or tiiey may 



APPENDIX 



259 



originate and report to the Chamber such views as tiiey may deem 
proper for its consideration. ^ 

They shall, respectively, keep regular minutes of their meetings 
and proceedings, in which tiie Secretary shall give tiiem aU re- 
quired assistance, and they shall make an annual written report to 
the Chamber at its regular annual May meeting. 



Article X 

OF ELECTION OF SPECIAL OFFICERS UNDER THE LAWS OF THE STATE 

The Chamber shall elect, in conformity with the laws of the State, 
the following named officers: 

Commissioners of PUots— There shall be elected by ballot, to 
serve for two years, at a special meeting called for the purpose, 
three members of the Chamber to act as Commissioners of Pilots. 
Whenever any vacancy shall occur by death, resignation or other- 
wise, of either of such Commissioners so elected, the vacancy shall 
be filled at a special meeting of the Chamber, and the term of ser- 
vice of the member so elected shall date from the day of such elec- 
tion, [as by law of the State of New York, passed June 28, 1853]. 

Commissioner for Licensing Sailors' Boarding Houses or Hotels.^ 
There shall be elected by ballot, to serve for one year, at the annual 
meeting of the Chamber in May, a member of the Chamber to act 
as Commissioner for Licensing Sailors' Boarding Houses or Hotels 
in the Cities of New York and Brooklyn, [as by law of the State of 
New York, passed March 21, j866]. 

Whenever any vacancy shall occur in the above named offices by 
death, resignation or otherwise, except in that of the Commissioners 
of Pilots, the same shall be filled at the regular meeting of the Cham- 
ber next following. 

Article XI 

QUORUM AND ADJOURNMENT 

t 

Twenty-five members of the Chamber, of which number the 
President or one of the Vice-Presidents must always be one, shall 
be necessary to form a quorum for the transaction of business, or 
to ballot for members. 

In case a quorum shall not be present at the time fixed for any 
regular meeting of the Chamber, the President, or, in his absence, 
the senior Vice-President present, may adjourn the meeting to 




M 



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1 1 



n 




260 



APPENDIX 



such other day in the same month as he may judge proper; but in 
case there be no quorum present at the time fixed for any special 
meeting, such adjournment shall not be made, except by consent 
of two-thirds of the members present. 

If there fail to be a quorum from the absence of the prescribed 
officers, it shall be the duty of the Secretary to declare the meeting 
adjourned sine die. 

Article XII 

RULES OF ORDER 

At all regular meetings of the Chamber, the regular order of 
business shall be: 

1. Reading of the minutes. 

2. Report of the Executive Committee on nominations for 

membership. 

3. Ballot for members. 

4. Report of the Executive Committee. 

5. Reports of Standing Committees, in their order. 

6. Report of Trustees of Real Estate. 

7. Reports of Special Committees. 

8. Unfinished business. 

9. New business. 

Members having any motion or remarks to make shall rise and 
address the Chair. All resolutions or propositions, of whatever 
nature, must be reduced to writing before they can be entertained. 
The time to be taken by any member in debate may be limited by 
the presiding officer at the request of the Chamber. Each mem- 
ber shall be entitied to the floor, without interruption, for such 
time as may be allowed to him. Where reports of Committees are 
submitted to debate, the Chairman of the Committee introducing 
such report may open and close the debate. 

At special meetings called to hear and consider reports of Com- 
mittees ordered by the Chamber, no new propositions or resolu- 
tions in the nature of substitutes, (except the report of the minority 
of the Committee, if any,) shall be introduced or debated until after 
final action shall have been taken upon the report of such Com- 
mittee; when, if it be rejected, such new propositions or resolu- 
tions may be entertained, but no business other than that named in 
the requisition and call for the special meeting shall be entertained, 
even though unanimous consent be had. 



APPENDIX 



261 



Members having appeared in the Chamber shall not withdraw 
previous to adjournment, except by permission from the President. 

Whenever any resolution shall be proposed in tiie Chamber 
which calls for the immediate expression of its opinion or action 
touching any public matter, and if the same be objected to by any 
member present, it shaU be the duty of the President to state the 
objection, and to call upon those who sustain the same to rise, and 
if one-fourth of the members present rise in support of such objec- 
tion, then such resolution shall be referred to a Standing or Special 
Committee, who shall report thereon at the next meeting of the 
Chamber; and upon the presentation of such report, the same, and 
the original resolution, and the subject referred to, may then be 
acted upon without further right of such objection. 

Article XIII 

PRIVILEGES OF STRANGERS 

Members may, by ticket, introduce to the Rooms of the Cham- 
ber and the use of the Library, Newspapers and Magazines, any 
stranger, and such ticket shall be available for one month from date. 

Article XIV 

POWERS OF DELEGATIONS 

Delegations or Committees, which may be appointed by this 
Chamber at any time to represent it at any meeting of Chambers of 
Commerce or Boards of Trade, or at any other Convention, meeting 
or Assembly whatever, shall have no authority, by virtue of such 
appointment, to bind this Corporation to concur in the action of 
any such body; but such Delegations or Committees shall report 
to the Chamber all propositions or actions of such body for its 
concurrence or dissent. 






/, 

U 



I 



Article XV 

All proposed amendments to the By-Laws shall be submitted in 
writing, at a regular meeting of the Chamber; but no such amend- 
ments shall be acted upon before the next regular meeting. 



i 




4': 




i i i. 




OFFICERS OF THE CHAMBER 

Officers of the Chamber of Commerce from Its 

Organization, 1768 



presidents 



elected 



RETDIED 



1768. John Cruger 1770 

1770. Hugh Wallace 1771 

1771. Elias Desbrosses 1772 

1772. Henry White 1773 

1773. Theophylact Bache. 1774 

1774. William Walton 1775 

1775. Isaac Low 1784 

1784. JohnAlsop 1785 

1785. John Broome 1794 

1794. Comfort Sands 1798 

1798. John Murray 1806 

1806. Cornelius Ray 1819 

1819. William Bayard 1827 

1827. Robert Lenox 1840 

1840. Isaac Carow 1842 

1842. James De Peyster 

Ogden 1845 

1845. James G. King 1847 

1847. Moses H. Grinnell.. 1848 



elected retired 

1848. James G. King 1849 

1849. Moses H. Grinnell. . 1852 

1852. Elias Hicks 1853 

1853. Pelatiah Perit 1863 

1863. AbielA. Low 1867 

1867. William E. Dodge. . 1875 

1875. Samuel D. Babcock. 1882 

1882. George W. Lane. . . 

1884. James M. Brown. . . 

1887. Charles S. Smith .. . 

1894. Alexander E. Orr. . . 

1899. Morris K. Jesup. . . . 

1907. J. Edward Simmons 1910 

1910. A. Barton Hepburn. 1912 

1912. John Claflin 1914 

1914. Seth Low 1916 

1 91 6. Eugenius H. Outer- 
bridge 



1883 
1887 
1894 
1899 
1907 



VICE-PRESIDENTS 



ELECTED RETIRED 

1768. Hugh Wallace 1770 

1770. Elias Desbrosses 1771 

1770. Henry White i773 

1 77 1. Theophylact Bache. 1774 

1772. William Walton 1774 

1773. Isaac Low i775 

1774. JohnAlsop 1779 

1775. William McAdam. . 1780 
1779. Thomas Buchannan 1783 



ELECTED RETIRED 

1779. Hugh Wallace 1781 

1 781. Jacob Walton 1783 

1783. William Walton 1784 

1783. Gerard Walton 1785 

1784. Isaac Sears 1785 

1785. William Constable. . 1788 
1785. Pascal M. Smith. . . 1788 
1788. Theophylact Bache. 1792 
1788. John Murray 1798 



262 



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APPENDIX 



263 



ELECTED RETIRED 

1792. Gerard Walton i793 

1793. Comfort Sands i794 

1794. JohnBlagge i797 

1797. John B.Coles 1817 

1798. George Barnewall. . . 1800 
1800. Archibald Grade. . . 1825 

1817. William Bayard 1819 

1819. Robert Lenox 1827 

1825. William W. Woolsey 1839 

1827. Isaac Carow 1840 

1839. James Boorman 1841 

1840. James De Peyster 

Ogden 1842 

1841. James G. King 1845 

1842. Henry K. Bogert. . . 1846 

1845. Stewart Brown 1847 

1846. David S. Kennedy.. 1847 

1847. Moses H. Grinnell. . 1847 

1847. William H.Macy... 1849 

1848. Moses H. Grinnell. . 1849 

1849. James De Peyster 

Ogden 1851 

1849. Prosper M. Wetmore 1850 

1850. Charles H. Russell. . 1852 

1851. EUas Hicks 1852 

1852. Caleb Barstow 1855 

1852. Samuel L. Mitchill.. 1854 

1854. George Curtiss 1856 

1855. Royal Phelps 1862 

1856. Abiel A. Low 1863 

1863. WiUiam E. Dodge . . 1867 

1863. Jonathan Sturges. . . 1867 

1867. George Opdyke 1875 

1867. Simeon B. Chitten- 
den 1869 

1869. R. Warren Weston.. 1870 

1870. Walters. Griffith... 1872 
1870. WiUiam M. Ver- 

milye 1875 

1870. Samuel D. Babcock. 1874 
1873. Solon Humphreys... 1874 
1875. James M. Brown. . . 1884 

1875. George W. Lane 1882 

1882. WiUiam H. Fogg .. . 1884 



ELECTED RETIRED 

1884. Charles S.Smith... 1887 

1884. Josiah M. Fiske. . . . 1889 

1887. Cornelius N. Bliss.. 1889 

1889. Alexander E. Orr. . . 1894 

1889. Morris K. Jesup. ... 1898 

1894. Wmiam E. Dodge 

(2d) 189s 

1894. ComeUusVanderbUt 1895 

1894. WiUiam L. Strong. . 1895 

1894. JohnSloane 1896 

1894. John Crosby Brown. 1896 

1894. Richard T. WUson. . 1896 

1894. CorneHus N. BUss. . 1897 

1894. J. Pierpont Morgan. 1897 

1894. WilUam H.Webb... 1897 

1894. J. Edward Simmons. 1898 

1894. Horace Porter 1898 

1895. D.WUlis James 1899 

1895. John A. Stewart. . . . 1899 

1895. John Claflin 1899 

1896. Henry Hentz 1900 

1896. Augustus D. Juil- 

liard 1900 

1896. JohnL. Riker 1900 

1897. Seth Low 1901 

1897. Woodbury Langdon. 1901 

1897. Anson W. Hard 1901 

1898. Abram S. Hewitt. . . 1902 
1898. Charles S. FairchUd. 1902 

1898. Jacob H. Schiff 1902 

1899. J. Edward Simmons. 1903 
1899. WUUam E. Dodge 

(2d) 1903 

1899. Levi P. Morton 1903 

1900. J. Pierpont Morgan. 1904 
1900. John D. RockefeUer. 1904 

1900. Andrew Carnegie. . . 1904 

1901. John T. Terry 1905 

1901. James T. Woodward 1905 

1901. John Claflin 1905 

1902. Whitelaw Reid 1906 

1902. Clement A. Griscom 1906 

1902. Charles Lanier 1906 

1903. John S. Kennedy. . . 1907 






I 



4 



i* 



264 



APPENDIX 



1903. 
1904. 

1904. 
1904. 
1905. 
1905. 

1905. 



ELECTED RETIRED 

1903. Alexander J. Cassatt 1906 

Marshall Field 1906 

Chauncey M. De- 
pew 1908 

Vernon H. Brown. . 1908 

Isidor Straus 1908 

Cornelius N. Bliss. . 1909 
WiUiam Butler 

Duncan 1909 

Seth Low 1909 

1906. J, Pierpont Morgan. 1907 

1906. John Crosby Brown 1909 

1906. D. Willis James. . . . 1907 
1906. William Bayard 

Cutting 1910 

Joseph H. Choate. . 191 1 

Gustav H. Schwab. 191 1 

George F. Seward. . 1910 

Edward King 1909 

Cleveland H. Dodge 191 2 

James J. Hill 1912 

George F. Baer 1912 

Stewart L. Wood- 
ford 1910 

John S. Kennedy. . . 1909 

J. Pierpont Morgan. 191 3 

Jacob H. Schiff 1913 

A. Barton Hepburn. 19 10 

Cornelius N. Bliss. . 191 1 

Otto T. Bannard. . . 1914 



1907. 
1907. 
1907. 
1907. 
1908. 
1908. 
1908. 
1909. 



1909. 
1909. 
1909. 
1910. 
1910. 
1910. 



ELECTED 



RETIRED 



910. 


Arthur Curtiss James 


1914 


910. 


William A. Nash . . . 


1913 


911. 


JohnClaflin 


1912 


911. 


A. Foster Higgins. . . 


191S 


911. 


James Talcott 


191S 


911. 


Philip A. S. Frank- 






lin 


1914 


912. 


William D. Sloane. . 


191S 


912. 


John I. Waterbury. . 


1916 


912. 


T. DeWitt Cuyler.. 


1916 


912. 


Frank K. Sturgis. . . 


1916 


913. 


J. Pierpont Morgan 






(2d) 


1917 
1914 


913- 


Paul M. Warburg . . 


913. 


George B. Cortelyou 


1917 


914. 


Jacob H. Schiff 


1917 


914. 


James G. Cannon . . 


1916 


914. 


Anton A. Raven 


1918 


914. 


William Skinner 


1918 


915- 


Cleveland H. Dodge 




915. 


Henry Hentz 




915. 


Eugene Delano 




916. 


Alfred E. Marling. . 


1918 


916. 


Philip A. S. Franklin 




916. 


James A. Farrell 




916. 


Samuel Rea 




917. 


Frank K. Sturgis. . . 




917. 


Henry P. Davison. . 




917. 


T. DeWitt Cuyler.. 





TREASURERS 



ELECTED RETIRED 

1768. Elias Desbrosses. . . . 1770 

1770. Theophylact Bache. 1771 

1771. William Walton. . . . 1772 

1772. Isaac Low 1773 

1773. John Alsop 1774 

1774. William McAdam. .. 1775 

1775. Charles McEvers. . . 1780 
1780. Robert Ross Wad- 
dell 1784 

1784. John Broome 1785 

1785. Joshua Sands 1789 



ELECTED RETIRED 

1789. Cornelius Ray 1806 

1806. Henry I. Wyckoff... 1839 

1840. John J. Palmer 1858 

1858. Augustus E. Silli- 

man i860 

i860. Edward C. Bogert. . 1865 

1865. Francis S. Lathrop. . 1878 

1878. Solon Humphreys... 1900 

1900. James G. Cannon.. . 1908 

1908. William H. Porter. . 



r 



APPENDIX 



265 



SECRETARIES 



ELECTED RETIRED 

1768. Anthony Van Dam . 1784 

1784. JohnBlagge 1785 

1785. Adam Gilchrist, Jr. . 1786 

1786. William Shotwell... 1787 

1787. William Laight 1796 

1796. William W. Woolsey 1801 
1 801. Jonathan H. Law- 
rence 1803 

1803. John Ferrers 1813 

1817. John Pintard 1827 

1827. John A. Stevens 1832 

1832, John R. Hurd 1834 

1834. Jacob Harvey 1838 



ELECTED RETIRED 

1838. E. A. Boonen Graves 1841 
1841. John D. Van Buren. 1843 
1843. John L. H. Mc- 
cracken 1843 

1843. Prosper M. Wetmore 1849 

1849. Matthew Maury. . . 1853 

1853. Edward C. Bogert. . 1859 

1859. Isaac Smith Homans 1862 

1862. John Austin Stevens 1868 

1868. George Wilson 1908 

1908. Sereno S. Pratt ... . 19x5 

19 1 5. Charles T. Gwynne. 



ASSISTANT SECRETARIES 



Si 



ELECTED RETIRED 

1909. Charles T. Gwynne. 1915 



ELECTED RETIRED 

191 7. Jere D. Tamblyn. . . 



EXECUTIVE OFFICER 
ELECTED RETIRED 

1915. JoliD^ Franklin Crowell 1917 



»tl 






]. 



ft 



1/1 



1 ^. 



■'J I 



VI 

OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES OF THE CHAMBER OF 
COMMERCE FOR THE YEAR ENDING MAY, 1918 

Elected by the Chamber 
Eugenius H. Outerbridge, President 

vice-presidents 



To serve until May, igi8 
Alfred E. Marling 
Anton A. Raven 
William Skinner 

To serve until May, IQIQ 
Cleveland H. Dodge 
Henry Hentz 
Eugene Delano 



To serve until May, ig20 
Philip A. S. FrankUn 
James A. Farrell 
Samuel Rea 

To serve untU May, ig2i 
Frank K. Sturgis 
Henry P. Davison 
T. De Witt Cuyler 



William H. Porter, Treasurer 
Charles T. Gwynne, Secretary 
Jere D. Tamblyn, AssH Secretary 



Frank A. Vanderlip 
Henry A. Caesar 
Samuel W. Fairchild 
Irving T. Bush 
Darwin P. Kingsley 
Alfred E. Marling 



executive committee 

Welding Ring, Chairman 

Charles L. Bemheimer 
Howard C. Smith 
Eugenius H. Outerbridge 
WiUiam H. Porter 
A. Barton Hepburn 
John Claflin 



COMMITTEE ON FINANCE AND CURRENCY 
Frank A. Vanderlip, Chairman 

Members to serve until May, 1918 
George F. Baker, Jr. Samuel Sachs 

Members to serve until May, 1919 
Albert H. Wiggin James S. Alexander 

Members to serve until May, 1920 
William Woodward George B. Cortelyou 

266 



APPENDIX 



267 



COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN COMMERCE AND THE REVENUE LAWS 

Henry A. Caesar, Chairman 
Members to serve until May, 191 8 
WiUiam E. Peck Charles A. Schieren 

Members to serve imtil May, 19 19 
Lincoln Cromwell John V. Jewell 

Members to serve until May, 1920 
W. Tyrie Stevens I. Osgood Carleton 

COMMITTEE ON INTERNAL TRADE AND IMPROVEMENTS 
Samuel W. Fairchild, Chairman 
Members to serve until May, 1918 
WiUiam R. WiUcox Burns D. CaldweU 

Members to serve untU May, 1919 
James O. Bloss Charles A. Sherman 

Members to serve untU May, 1920 
Charles E. Peck EUhu C. Church 

COMMITTEE ON THE HARBOR AND SHIPPING 
Irving T. Bush, Chairman 
Members to serve imtU May, 1918 
Lloyd B. Sanderson Albert Strauss 

Members to serve untU May, 1919 
John F. WaUace Clarence H. Kelsey 

Members to serve untU May, 1920 
George S. Dearborn Joseph P. Grace 

COMMITTEE ON INSURANCE 
Darwin P. Kingsley, Chairman 

Members to serve until May, 1918 

John B. Lunger 

Members to serve until May, 191 9 

Ellis G. Richards 

Members to serve untU May, 1920 

Isaac B. Johnson 



w 



Hendon Chubb 



Frank E. Law 






WiUiam J. TuUy 



ft! 






>i 






i< 



268 



APPENDIX 



COMMITTEE ON STATE AND MUNICIPAL TAXATION 

Alfred E. Marling, Chairman 

Members to serve until May, 191 8 
Edwin W. Coggeshall James H. Post 

Members to serve until May, 1919 
William C. Demorest Leonor F. Loree 

Members to serve until May, 1920 
James Brown William H. Wheelock 

COMMITTEE ON ARBITRATION 

Charles L. Bernheimer, Chairman 

Members to serve until May, 1918 
Frank A. Ferris Victor Koechl 

Members to serve until May, 1919 
George A. Zabriskie Thomas F. Vietor 

Members to serve until May, 1920 
W. Gerald Hawes Edward O. Stanley 

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCIAL EDUCATION 

Howard C. Smith, Chairman 

Members to serve until May, 191 8 
Julio F. Sorzano J. Louis Schaefer 

Members to serve until May, 1919 
Alexander C. Humphreys Lionel Sutro 

Members to serve until May, 1920 
Joseph H. Sears WiUiam W. Heroy 

COMMITTEE ON THE CHARITY FUND OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 

Eugenius H. Outerbridge, President of the Chamber, 

Chairman, ex-officio 

Eugene Delano Welding Ring Alfred E. Marling 

BOARD OF TRUSTEES HAVING CHARGE OF THE REAL ESTATE OF THE 

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 

Eugenius H. Outerbridge, President of the Chamber, 

Chairman, ex-officio 

Members to serve until May, 1918 
Jacob H. Schiff A. Barton Hepburn 






APPENDIX 



269 



Members to serve until May, 191 9 
George F. Baker Augustus D. Juilliard 

Members to serve until May, 1920 
T. De Witt Cuyler Clarence H. Kelsey 

COMMISSIONERS OF PILOTS, ELECTED BY THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 

To serve until October, 1919 
Marcus H. Tracy Jacob W. Miller Arthur M. Smith 

- COMMISSIONER FOR LICENSING SAILORS* HOTELS OR BOARDING- 
HOUSES 
Eben E. Olcott 

Special Committees Appointed by the President 
committee on the national guard and naval militia 
Francis G. Landon, Chairman 



i\ 



Union N. Bethell 
William C. Le Gendre 
Anson W. Burchard 



Henry C. Swords 
Alfred R. Whitney, Jr. 
James W. Lane 



COMMITTEE ON WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION LEGISLATION 
Edmund Dwight, Chairman 

Frank E. Law 
Waldo H. Marshall 



William Sloane 
Otto M. Eidlitz 



COMMITTEE ON CONSERVATION OF STATE WATERS, LANDS, AND 

FORESTS 
Charles N. Chadwick, Chairman 
H. Hobart Porter Charies W. Carpenter 

Franklin P. Duryea Lincoln CromweU 

COMMITTEE ON PROBLEMS OF SHIPMENTS DURING THE EUROPEAN 



Eugenius H. 

Jacob H. Schiff 
J. Pierpont Morgan 
Frank A. Vanderlip 
Anton A. Raven 
William G. Willcox 
Philip A. S. Franklin 
T. Ashley Sparks 
Frank Trumbull 
Walter B. Pollock 



WAR 
Outerbridge, Chairman 

James A. Farrell 
Welding Ring 
J. Parker Kirlin 
Charles C. Burlingham 
Hendon Chubb 
J. Temple Gwathmey 
Samuel Rea 
Alfred H. Smith 



I 



( 



I 



270 



APPENDIX 



COMMITTEE ON THE AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE 

Irving T. Bush, Chairman 

William Hams Douglas George S. Dearborn 

Jacob W. Miller J. Temple Gwathmey 

COMMITTEE ON INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS AND RELATIONS 

Edward D. Page, Chairman 
George W. Perkins 



William Hamlin Childs 



Otto M. Eidlitz 
William L. Saunders 



COMMITTEE ON FOOD-SUPPLY AND PRICES 

Harry Balfe, Chairman 

Gustave Porges 
John W. Nix 



George A. Zabriski 
William Mc Carroll 



COMMITTEE ON CELEBRATION OF 150TH ANNIVERSARY 

Lewis L. Clarke, Chairman 

James Brown Lincoln Cromwell 

Welding Ring 



Samuel W. Fairchild 
R. A. C. Smith 



John I. Waterbury 



COMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATION OF CAMP WHITMAN AND 

OTHER CAMP SITES 

John I. Waterbury, Chairman 

Leonor F. Loree H. de Berkeley Parsons 

Alfred R. Whitney, Jr. Michael Friedsam 

Julio F. Sorzano 

COMMITTEE ON SAFETY-FIRST PROBLEMS 

Franklin P. Duryea, Chairman 
Charles W. Leavitt Allen Merrill Rogers 

Charles L. Bemheimer George E. Molleson 



VII 

ROLL OF MEMBERS 

Corrected to March 7, 1918 
honorary members 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Edison, Thomas A 1889 

Hanna, Hugh H 1900 

Porter, Horace 1905 

Peary, Robert E 1910 

Roosevelt, Theodore 1910 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Carnegie, Andrew 191 1 

Root, Elihu 1915 

Goethals, George W 1917 

Morton, Levi P 1917 



^ 
h 



MEMBERS 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Abercrombie, David T 191 5 

Achelis, Fritz 1894 

Acheson, E. G., Niagara 

Falls, N. Y 1902 

Ackerman, Ernest R 1899 

Ackerman, Marion S 1903 

Adams, Edward D 1902 

Adams, James W 1910 

Adams, Robert F 1915 

Adler, Jerome C 1915 

Adsit, Charles, Homell,N.Y. 1901 

Agar, John G 1906 

Agnew, Cornelius R 191 5 

Agnew, George Bliss 1909 

Ahlstrom, Carl F 1913 

Aldrich, Spencer 1909 

Aldridge, Darwin R 1898 

Alexander, Charles B 1915 

Alexander, James S 191 2 

Allen, Frederic W 1914 

Allerton, David D 1906 

Allison, WiUiam O 190S 

Alvord, Andrew P 191 5 

Ambrose, Harry T 1891 

Ames, Edwin A 1912 

Ames, Louis Annin 1913 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Anderson, Abraham A 1903 

Anderson, Charles W 1890 

Anderson, John 1908 

Anderson, Lathrop, New- 
ark, N. J 1901 

Andrews, Horace E 1908 

Andrews, James K 1914 

Andrews, William H., Buf- 
falo, N. Y 1897 

Appleton, Francis R., Buf- 
falo, N.Y 1894 

Aral, Rioichiro 1918 

Arents, George, Jr 191 5 

Armstrong, Collin 191 2 

Armstrong, James Sinclair. 1892 

Aron, Jacob 1913 

Ashforth, Albert B 191 1 

Aspegren, John 1913 

Astor, Vincent 1915 

Astor, William Waldorf 1890 

Atterbury, William W., 

Philadelphia, Pa 1915 

At water, Theron S 1909 

Atwater, William C 1909 

Austin, Chellis A 191 7 

I Ayres, Howard 1905 

271 



> 



272 



APPENDIX 



B 



* 1 



iiii 



I 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Babb, George W 1908 

Babcock, F. Huntington. . . 1916 

Bache, Jules S 1903 

Bacon, George W 1915 

Bacon, Robert 1912 

Bacon, Robert Low 1913 

Bailey, Benjamin F 191 7 

Bailey, Frank 1901 

Baker, Edwin H 1902 

Baker, George F 1880 

Baker, George F., Jr 1913 

Baker, James B 1897 

Baldwin, Leroy W 191 1 

Baldwin, William D 1897 

Baldwin, William H 191 7 

Baldwin, William M 1897 

Balfe, Harry 1907 

Balfe, Thomas F., 

Newburgh, N. Y 1906 

Ball, Alwyn, Jr 1901 

Ball, Ancell H 1909 

Ball, T. Arthur 1913 

Ballard, Charles W 1916 

Ballard, Edward L 1916 

Ballard, Seymour M 1914 

Bamberger, Maurice 1903 

Bancroft, Joseph 1913 

Bangs, Francis Sedgwick. . . 1895 

Banks, Theodore H 191 7 

Bannard, Otto T 1895 

Barber, James 1910 

Barbour, W. Warren 1917 

Barker, Harold O 1915 

Barlow, DeWitt D 1916 

Barnum, William M 191 5 

Barr, Edward 1881 

Barrett, John D 1901 

Barrett, William M 1909 

Barron, George Davis, Rye, 

N. Y 1916 

Barrows, Ira 1911 

Barry, Charles D 1897 

Barry, John T 1916 



NAME DATE OP ELECTION 

Bartow, Charles S 1897 

Bates, Edgar A 1917 

Bates, Lindon W 191S 

Bausher, Charles L 1897 

Baylies, Edmund L 1902 

Bayne, Howard 1909 

Beall, Turner A 1913 

Beatty, A. Chester 191 2 

Bechstein, Augustus C 1889 

Bedford, Alfred C 1917 

Belding, Milo M 1891 

Belmont, August 1891 

Benedict, Henry H 1898 

Benedict, James 1893 

Benedict, Lemuel C 1909 

Benedict, Seelye 1910 

Benedict, Theodore Hudson 1902 

Benedict, William L 191 2 

Benjamin, George P 1891 

Benjamin, William Evarts.. 1916 

Bennett, Walter H 1910 

Bennett, Walter Mills 191 7 

Bensel, John A 1903 

Berlin, Henry C 1891 

Bemheim, Eli H 1910 

Bemheim, Isaac J 1913 

Bemheim, Julius C 1907 

Bemheimer, Charles L 1902 

Berolzheimer, Emil 1901 

Bertram, H. Henry 1914 

Bertron, Samuel R 1901 

Berwind, Edward J 1897 

Bethell, Union N 1910 

Bettle, Samuel 1902 

Billqvist, C. Edward 1891 

Bird, John W 1911 

Birdsall, Daniel 1909 

Bissell, Arthur D., Buffalo, 

N. Y 1901 

Black, Harry S 191S 

Blackiston, Harry C 191 7 

Blagden, George 191 1 

Blanchard, Isaac H 1916 



APPENDIX 



273 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Bliss, Cornelius N., Jr 1899 

Blood, Samuel S 1901 

Bloss, James O 1884 

Blum, Edward C 1909 

Bogert, Henry Myers 1909 

Boker, Hans R 1916 

Bondy, Maurice S 1906 

Bonties, Harry P 1916 

Boody, David A 1887 

Borden, Bertram H 1910 

Borden, Spencer, Jr., Fall 

River, Mass 1908 

Boskowitz, Adolph 1891 

Bourne, Frederick G 1889 

Bouvier, Maurice 1915 

Bowen, Clarence Winthrop. 1887 

Bowne, Samuel W 1914 

Bowring, Charles Warren. . 191 2 

Bradlee, John R 1912 

Brady, Nicholas F 1913 

Brainard, Frank 1900 

Brainerd, Frederick A 1903 

Braman, Willard 1894 

Brett, George P 1902 

Brewer, WiUiam A., Jr., 

South Orange, N. J 1902 

Brewster, Henry C, 

Rochester, N. Y 1899 

Briesen, Arthur v 1904 

Briesen, Richard v 1909 

Bright, Osborn W 1902 

Brinckerhoff, Elbert A., Jr. 1911 

Broadway, William G 1910 

Brodmerkel, Charles, Jr 191 5 

Broenniman, Edward G 1912 

Bronner, Harry 1915 

Brooker, Charles F 1897 

Brooks, Charles M 191 7 

Brown, Edward W 1916 

Cabot, Francis H 1897 

Caesar, Harry 1 1917 

Caesar, Henry A 1890 



I 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Brown, Elmer E 1912 

Brown, Franklin Q 1903 

Brown, J. Adams 1913 

Brown, James 1913 

Brown, James Crosby, 

Philadelphia, Pa 1906 

Brown, Samuel T 1905 

Brown, Thatcher Magoun. . 1909 
Brown, Vernon Carleton. . . 1897 

Brown, Walston H 1889 

Brown, Willard Stanbury. . 1908 

Browning, John Scott 1890 

Bruere, Henry 1916 

Bnindrett, Hart B 1890 

Bruning, Henry F 1913 

Bucknall, Henry W. J 1916 

Buckner, Mortimer Norton. 191 7 

Buckner, Thomas A 1910 

Budge, Henry, Hamburg, 

Germany 1898 

Bulkley, Edwin M 1899 

Bulkley, Jonathan 1894 

Bunce, H. L., Hartford, 

Conn 1902 

Burchard, Anson W 1910 

Burgess, Edward G 1903 

Burke, John 1904 

Burns, Walter F 1918 

Burr, Winthrop 1904 

Burroughs, James S 191 2 

Burton, Theodore E 191 7 

Bush, D. Fairfax 191 7 

Bush, Irving T 1904 

Buswell, Frederic C 1913 

Butler, Charles Stewart 191 7 

Butler, Nicholas Murray. . . 1908 

Buttenwieser, Joseph L 191 2 

Butterworth, Frank S 191 7 



Calder, William M 1915 

Caldwell, Burns D 1913 

Caldwell, George B 191 7 






y 



'i 



n 



i 



274 



APPENDIX 



. t 






u 



ill 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Caldwell, Robert J 1906 

Cammann, Edward C 19 16 

Cammann, Henry L 1899 

Cammann, Hermann H 1894 

Camp, Hugh N., Jr 1908 

Campbell, Palmer 191 1 

Campbell, Peter, Kearny, 

N.J 1915 

Campbell, Samuel S 1910 

Cannon, Henry W 1886 

Carey, Stephen W 1859 

Carhart, Edward R 191 7 

Carlebach, Emil 1903 

Carleton, I. Osgood 1897 

Carlisle, Jay F 1910 

Carlton, Newcomb 191 5 

Carpenter, Charles W 1899 

Carse, Henry R 1904 

Cartledge, Charles F 1902 

Carty, John J 1916 

Case, Albert C 1902 

Case, Charles L 1905 

Case, Clinton P 1910 

Cauchois, Oscar R 1916 

Chadwick, Charles N 1906 

Chamberlin, Emerson, 

Summit, N. J 1907 

Chambers, Frank R 1889 

Chase, Austin C, Syra- 
cuse, N. Y 1902 

Chatillon, George E 191 2 

Cheney, Orion H 1917 

Chew, Beverly 1899 

Childs, Eversley 1916 

Childs, Harris R 1910 

Childs, Samuel S 1910 

Childs, William Hamlin 191 4 

Chisolm, George E 1903 

Chubb, Hendon 1910 

Chubb, Percy 1910 

Church, Elihu C 1913 

Cillis, Hubert 1902 

Claflin, John 1878 

Clapp, Edward E 1902 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Clark, Charles Martin 19 10 

Clark, Edward Severin 1914 

Clark, George C 1907 

Clark, J. William 1907 

Clark, William A 1902 

Clarke, Lewis L 1910 

Clarke, Thomas B 1888 

Clayburgh, Albert 191 2 

Clews, Henry 1865 

Clews, James B 1910 

Clowry, Robert C 1903 

Clyde, Thomas 1900 

Clyde, William P 1873 

Cochran, Thomas 191 5 

Coe, William R 1910 

Coffin, Charles A 1902 

Coggeshall, Edwin W 1903 

Cogswell, Ledyard, Albany, 

N. Y 1901 

Cogswell, W. B., Syracuse, 

N. Y 1902 

Cokefair, Isaac W 1913 

Cole, Edward F., Yonkers, 

N. Y 1917 

Coler, Birds 1898 

Colgate, James C 1898 

Collins, Clarence Lyman. . . 1879 

Cone, Charles Arthur 19 14 

Cone, Frederick H 1914 

Conklin, William G 1897 

Conley, Louis D 191 2 

Conlin, Frederick 1916 

Connett, Ernest R 190S 

Conrow, Theodore 1897 

Content, Harry 1902 

Cook, Henry F 1897 

Cooke, Delos W 1916 

Cooke, William G 1910 

Coombs, James Bliss 1911 

Cooney, John J 1910 

Copeland, Charles C 1907 

Coppell, Arthur 191 7 

Corey, Clarence T 191 2 

Corey, William E 1910 



i» 



APPENDIX 



275 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Coriell, WiUiam Wallace .. . 1905 

Corliss, Charles A 1909 

Corning, Christopher 

Robert 1905 

Corning, Edward 1893 

Comwell, William C 191 7 

Cortelyou, George B 1909 

County, Albert J., Phila- 
delphia, Pa 1916 

Cowl, Clarkson 1897 

Cowl, Donald Heam 191 7 

Cowles, Justus A. B 191 7 

Cowperthwait, J. Howard. . 1909 

Coykendall, Frederick 1913 

Cozzens, Stanley T 1902 

Cranford, Frederick L 191 1 

Cranford, Walter V 1911 

Crawford, Everett Lake.. . . 1907 

Dahl, Gerhard M 1917 

Daniels, Lorenzo 1916 

Daniels, William Cooke, 

London, England 191 2 

Darlington, Thomas 1907 

Darrell, Edward F 1916 

Davenport, William B 1907 

Davey, William N 1916 

Davidge, William H 1904 

Davison, Henry P 1900 

Day, Arthur M 1904 

Day, Clarence S 1895 

Day, Horace L 1917 

Day, Joseph P 1908 

Day, William A 1910 

Deal, Edgar 1901 

Dean, Herbert H 1907 

Dearborn, David B 1865 

Dearborn, George S 1900 

Debevoise, George 1906 

Debevoise, Thomas M 191 2 

De Bost, William L 1917 

De Cordova, Charles 1882 

Deeves, J. Henry 1897 

Deeves, Richard 1896 



D 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Crimmins, Thomas 1902 

Cromwell, David, White 

Plains, N. Y 1901 

Cromwell, James W 1892 

Cromwell, Lincoln 1905 

Cromwell, Seymour 

LeGrand 1915 

Crook, Edward K 1912 

Cruger, Bertram 1904 

Cumnock, Arthur James. . . 191 1 

Cunningham, James W 1904 

Currey, Jonathan B 1900 

Curtis, Sidney W 1912 

Cutler, Otis H 1913 

Cutter, Ralph L 1878 

Cutting, R. Fulton 1896 

Cuyler, Thomas De Witt, 

Philadelphia, Pa 1902 

Degener, John F 1891 

Degener, John F., Jr 191 5 

DeGraff, James W 191 2 

Delafield, Maturin L., Jr., 

Paris, France 1897 

Delano, Eugene 1900 

Delano, Moreau 191 2 

De Lanoy, William C, 

Washington, D. C. . . . 1911 

De Lima, Elias A 1897 

De Lima, Elias S. A., 

Mexico City, Mex 1897 

Demorest, William C 1899 

De Mott, Harry M 1916 

Denby, Isaac 1890 

Depew, Chauncey M 1885 

De Rham, Charles 1900 

Despard, Walter D 1904 

Dick, J. Henry 1904 

Dickerman, George W 1911 

Dickerman, Watson B 1907 

Dickey, Charles D 1913 

Dickinson, Edwin E 1905 

Dickson, James B 1897 

Dickson, Joseph B 1905 



i 



276 



APPENDIX 



|i 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Dieterich, Charles F 1897 

Dimse, Henry 1907 

Dix, John A., Jr. 1906 

Dodd, Louis F 19" 

Dodge, Cleveland E 191 5 

Dodge, Cleveland H 1883 

Dodge, Marcellus Hartley. . 1905 

Dominick, George F 1903 

Dommerich, Otto L 191 2 

Donald, John A 1912 

Donovan, Walter J. M 1913 

Dormitzer, Walter 1909 

Doubleday, Frank N 1913 

Doubleday, George 1918 

Douglas, Edward D 19^4 

Douglas, William H 1897 

Douglass, Robert Dun 1897 

Dow, Charles M., James- 
town, N. Y 1901 

Dowd, Joseph 1917 



Eames, John C iQiS 

Eastman, Joseph 1904 

Eastmond, Joseph Famham 191 7 

Eckardt, Clarence W 1913 

Ecker, Frederick H 1917 

Eckert, John A 1910 

Eddy, Jesse L 1905 

Edmister, Willard Earl 1906 

Edwards, George E 191 2 

Eidlitz, Otto M 1901 

Eiseman, Samuel 1903 

Eisman, Max 1901 

Elliman, Douglas L 1914 

Elliman, Lawrence B 1914 

Elliott, Ashbel R 1912 

Elliott, Howard 191 S 

Ellis, W. Dixon 1909 

Ellison, Bennett 1918 



Faber, Eberhard 191 2 

Faber, Rudolph C 1913 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Dowler, Arthur E 1901 

Dowling, Robert E 1908 

Downey, John 1 1912 

Dreher, Harold J 1916 

Dreicer, Michael 1909 

Drexel, John R., 

Philadelphia, Pa 1902 

Dryden, Forrest F 1916 

Drysdale, Robert A 1909 

Dudley, John L., Jr 190S 

Duer, Edward R 1918 

Duke, James B 1893 

Dumbell, Henry T 1915 

Duncan, Stuart 1902 

Dunn, Henry E 1906 

duPont, T. Coleman 191 5 

Duryea, Franklin P 1906 

Duval, George L 1900 

Dwight, Edmund 1906 



Elms, James C 1906 

Ely, George W 1900 

Emanuel, John H., Jr 1914 

Emery, John R 1903 

Emery, Joseph H 1909 

Englis, Charles M 1889 

English, William H 1904 

Ernst, AlwinC.,Cleveland,0. 191 7 

Erstein, Moise L 1914 

Estee, Tully C 191S 

Estes, Webster C 1897 

Etherington, William F 1911 

Ettlinger, Louis 1897 

Eustis, John E 1910 

Evans, Henry 1892 

Ewart, Richard H 1907 

Ewing, Blaine 1917 

Exton, Brudenell N 1917 



Fahnestock, Harris 1908 

Fahnestock, William 1898 



'? 



APPENDIX 



277 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Fahys, George Ernest 1897 

Fairchild, Charles S 1889 

Fairchild, JuUan D 1893 

Fairchild, Samuel W 189S 

Falk, Kaufman S 1898 

Fancher, Bertram H 19" 

Farrell, James A 1910 

Farrell, Maurice L 1916 

Farrelly, Stephen 1897 

Fassett, J. Sloat, Elmira, 

N. Y 1901 

Faulkner, Edward D 1890 

Felsinger, William 19" 

Ferguson, Walton 1901 

Ferris, Frank A 1894 

Ferry, E. Hayward 1907 

Finley, JohnH 1916 

Fisher, Edwin A., Sayre- 

vUle, N. J 1906 

Fisher, Irving R 1901 

Fisher, Walter G 1917 

Fisk, Pliny 1902 

Fisk, Wilbur C 1912 

Flagler, John H 1897 

Fleischmann, Charles M. . . 191 1 

Fleischmann, Udo M 191 1 

Fleitmann, Frederick T 1907 

Fleitmann, Hermann C 1914 

Fletcher, Andrew 1914 

Fletcher, Austin B 1906 



Gage, Baron W 1916 

Garabrant, David G 1917 

Garrigues, William A 191 5 

Gary, Elbert H 1902 

Gawtry, Harrison E 1902 

Gawtry, Lewis B 190S 

Gaynor, Philip B 1914 

Geer, George J 1890 

Gelshenen, WiUiam H 1916 

Gerhard, Paul F 1883 

Getty, Hugh 1909 

GibUn, WiUiam 19" 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Fletcher, Henry 191 S 

FUnt, Charles R 1877 

Folger, Henry C, Jr 1913 

Forbes, Allen Boyd 1906 

Forgan, James B., 

Chicago, 111 1902 

Forrest, Richard E 1916 

Foss, Wilson P 1916 

Foster, Nathaniel R 19^7 

Foster, Scott 1891 

Fowler, John F 1916 

Fox, Frederick P 1909 

Francis, David R., 

St. Louis, Mo 1902 

Frank, Charles A 191 2 

FrankHn, Philip A. S . . 1907 

Fredrick, Leopold 1909 

Freeborn, James L 1916 

Freeman, Charles D 1898 

Frelinghuysen, Joseph 

Sherman 1908 

Frenkel, EmU 1911 

Frew, Walter E 1903 

Frick, Henry C 1905 

Friedman, Sol 1911 

Friedsam, Michael 1898 

Frissell, Algernon S 1887 

Frost, Russell, South 

Norwalk, Conn 1907 

Fullerton, Henry S 1916 



Gibson, Robert 1906 

Gibson, Robert W 1897 

Gibson, William H 1910 

Gilbert, Alexander 190S 

Gilbert, Charles P. H 1901 

Gillies, Edwin J 1907 

Gilpin, William J 1897 

Gintzler, Morris 191 5 

Gips, Adrian, Rotterdam, 

Holland 1908 

Glazier, Henry S 1910 

Gleason, Marshall W 1910 



\ 



II 



t) 



t 



[t 11 



278 



APPENDIX 






\ 



! ! 



iiii 



' 



if! 



■|= 




NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Glover, Charles C, Wash- 
ington, D. C 1902 

Glyn, William E 191 7 

Goelet, Robert 1906 

Goepel, Carl 1901 

Golding, John N 1906 

Goldman, Henry 1895 

Goldschmidt, Samuel A 1902 

Goodhue, Charles E 1909 

Gough, William T 1917 

Gould, Edwin 1905 

Gould, George J 1894 

Grace, Joseph P 1903 

Graham, James Lorimer. . . 19 10 

Graham, Malcolm 1897 

Grant, RoUin P 1913 

Gray, Olin D 1908 

Gray, William S 1900 

Greeff, Bemhard 1908 

Greeff, Bernhard, Jr 191 1 

Haas, Kalman 1890 

HafiEner, Jacob H 1917 

Hagedom, Hermann 1906 

Hagemeyer, Frank E 191 6 

Hagerty, George V 1906 

Haggerty, J. Henry 1897 

Haigh, George C 1917 

Hale, Henry 1916 

Hall, A. Mitchell, 2d 1909 

Hall, Albert C 1894 

Hall, Edward E 1910 

Hall, William Webster 191 7 

Halle, Stanley J 1917 

Halls, William, Jr 1897 

Halm, William E 1916 

Halstead, J. Morton 1916 

Halsted, Gilbert C 191 7 

Hamilton, Carl W 1916 

Hammer, G. Adolph 1905 

Hammond, John Hays 191 5 

Hanan, John H 1910 

Hanauer, Jerome J 191 2 



H 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Greenhut, Benedict J 1906 

Greenhut, Joseph B 1910 

Greer, Louis Morris 191 1 

Greims, Herbert S 1907 

Grifl5n, Francis B 1899 

Grifl&th, Edward 1902 

Griffith, Percy T 1909 

Griscom, Clement A., Jr. . . 1897 

Guerrlich, Francis 1916 

Guggenheim, Daniel 1891 

Guggenheim, Isaac 1891 

Guggenheim, Morris 1895 

Guggenheim, Solomon 1895 

Guggenheim, William 1914 

Guiterman, Percy L 191 7 

Gunther, Bernard G 1893 

Gunther, Franklin L 1889 

Guye, Charles H 1907 

Gwathmey, J. Temple 1903 

Gwyniie, Charles T 1907 

Hance, John A 1909 

Hare, J. Montgomery 1895 

Harrington, Walter E 191 7 

Harris, Arthur M 1913 

Harrison, George F 1911 

Hartshorn, Stewart 1890 

Harvey, George 1900 

Harvey, Raymond 1915 

Hasler, Henry 1903 

Hasslacher, Jacob 1903 

Hastings, Courtland E 1916 

Hatch, Arthur Melvin 1898 

Hatfield, Joshua A 191 5 

Hathaway, Charles 1896 

Hatzel, John C 1918 

Haven, George G 1912 

Hawes, W. Gerald 1916 

Hawkes, McDougaU 1903 

Hawkins, George F 1900 

Hawley, Robert B 1916 

Hay, Louis C 1911 

Hays, David S 1913 



APPENDIX 



279 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Hazard, WiUiam A 1892 

Hazen, George H 1913 

Healey, Warren M 1904 

Healy, A. Augustus 1891 

Hegeman, John R 1910 

Heide, Henry 1909 

Heidelbach, Alfred S 1888 

Hemphill, Alexander Julian 1905 

Hendricks, Harmon W 1896 

Henry, James 1908 

Hentz, Henry 1858 

Hepburn, A. Barton 1893 

Heroy, William W 1910 

Herrick, Parmely W 191 5 

Hester, William 1902 

Hetzler, Theodore 1911 

Hewitt, Erskine 1902 

Hicks, Frederick C 1901 

Higgins, Eugene 1889 

Higgins, John D., 

Oswego, N. Y 1909 

Higgins, Richard H 191 7 

Hill, Louis W., St. Paul, 

Minn T.gi6 

Hill, Percival S 1915 

Hillas, Robert J 1912 

Hilles, Charles D 1913 

Hilliard, John Gerald 1910 

Hillman, William 1898 

Hiltman, John W 1911 

Hilton, Frederick M 1916 

Hine, Francis L 1892 

Hirsch, Richard 1910 

Hirsch, Robert B 191S 

Hirschland, Franz H 1916 

Hobart, Henry L., East- 

hampton, N. Y 1907 

Hochschild, Berthold 191 2 

Hodenpyl, Anton G 1904 

Hodge, Henry W 1909 

Hodges, Alfred 1909 

Hodgman, George B 1895 

Hodgman, S. Theodore 1905 

Hoe, WiUiam J 191S 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Hoffman, Charles F., Jr 1897 

Hoffman, Samuel V 1902 

Hoffstot, Frank N 1918 

Holbrook, Edward 1889 

Holbrook, John Swift 1907 

Holden, Arthur Bates 1910 

Holland, Charles H 1913 

HoUister, George C 191 2 

Holmes, Edwin T 1897 

Homan, Benjamin H 1915 

Homer, Francis T 1914 

Hooker, Elon Huntington. . 191 7 
Hopkins, Eustis Langdon. . 1901 

Hopkins, George B 1891 

Hopkins, Jesse L 191 7 

Horowitz, Louis J 191 S 

Horr, L. William 1907 

Hoskier, Herman C, 

South Orange, N. J 1897 

Housman, Frederick 1909 

Howard, WiUiam C 1897 

HoweU, Thomas A 1916 

Howland, W. WaUace 1891 

Hoxie, WUHamD 1912 

Hoyt, Colgate 1898 

Hoyt, Edward C 1889 

Hoyt, John Sherman 1913 

Hubbard, Samuel T 1899 

Hubbard, Walter C 1906 

Hubbs, Charles Francis 191 7 

Hubert, Conrad 191 2 

Hudnut, Alexander M 1896 

Hudnut, Richard Alex 1917 

Huffer, H. C, Jr., Paris, 

France 191S 

Hughitt, Marvin, 

Chicago, lU 1902 

Hume, Frederic T 1897 

Humphreys, Alexander C. . 1902 
Humphreys, Frederick H.. . 1902 

Humstone, Walter C 1902 

Huntington, Archer M 1902 

Huntington, Henry E 191 2 

Huntington, Samuel V. V. . 191 7 



I 









!1 



280 



APPENDIX 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Hurdman, Frederick 

Harold iQOQ 

Hyatt, Abram M 1901 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Hyde, E. Francis 1891 

Hyde, James H., Paris, 

France 1899 



^ti 



i^k!) 



h , 



i!»ir.vi 



Ichinomiya, Reitaro 191 7 

Ickelheimer, Henry R 1892 

Ide, George E 1897 

Ilsley, Silas A 1889 

Iselin, Adrian 1894 



Jackson, George J 1908 

Jacobs, Ralph J 1890 

Jacot, William 1916 

Jadwin, Stanley P 1917 

James, Arthur Curtiss 1893 

Jameson, Edwin C 19^3 

Jarvie, James N 1894 

Jeanne, Frank 1917 

Jeffery, Edward T 1906 

Jenks, Jeremiah W 191 7 

Jennings, Walter 1915 

Jesup, Charies M., White 

Plains, N.Y 1883 

Jesup, Frank W 1901 

Jewell, John V 1903 

Job, William C 1917 



Iselin, Arthur 1910 

Iselin, Emest 1918 

Iselin, WilHam E 1893 

Isham, PhiUips 1917 

Israel, Leon 1913 



Johnson, Alba B., 

Philadelphia, Pa 1909 

Johnson, Frank Coit 1903 

Johnson, Frederick M 1914 

Johnson, Isaac B 1913 

Johnson, Joseph French 1909 

Jones, E. Clarence 1901 

Jones, Frank S 1899 

Joost, Martin 1891 

Jourdan, Edward R 191 6 

Jourdan, Franklin B 191 5 

Jourdan, James H 1916 

Jourdan, William B 1914 

Joyce, William B 1917 

Judson, William D 1912 

Juhring, William L 1916 

I Juilliard, Augustus D 1875 



K 



Kahn, OttoH 1897 

Kaley, Frank E 1916 

Kathan, Reid A 1910 

Kaufman, Louis G 19" 

Keiser, James R 1912 

Kelley, Cornelius F 1917 

Kelly, Richard B 1901 

Kelsey, Clarence H 1897 

Kemp, Edward CM 1910 

Kemp, William H 1916 

Kent, Fred 1 1910 

Kent, Thomas B 1893 

Keppler, Rudolph 1899 



Kerr, John B 190S 

Kerr, Walter 1907 

Kessler, George A 1898 

Keys, Charies H 1907 

Keys, WilUam A 1907 

Kies, William S 191S 

Kiesewetter, Louis F 1916 

Kilduff, Thomas H., 

Boston, Mass 1906 

King, R. Courtney 1912 

King, Willard V 1909 

Kingsbury, Nathan C 1916 

Kingsley, Darwin P 1907 




\ 1 



APPENDIX 



281 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Kingsley, William M 1901 

Kinnan, Alexander P. W. . . 1909 

Kinnear, Wilson S 1916 

Kirkbride, Franklin Butler. 1906 
Kirkpatrick, George Under- 
wood 1918 

Kirkpatrick, John 1910 

Klinck, Jacob C 1909 

Klingenstein, Charles 191 S 

Kneeland, Yale 1903 

Knight, William 1903 

Knoedler, Roland F 1887 

Knox, William Henry 1906 

Koechl, Victor 1889 



LaBoyteaux, W. Harvell. . . 1916 

Labrot, Sylvester W 191 7 

Lafrentz, Ferdinand W 191 5 

Laidlaw, James Lees 1907 

Laing, Edgar H 1908 

Lamont, Thomas W 190S 

Landon, Francis G 1910 

Landstreet, Fairfax S 1910 

Lane, James W 1902 

Langdon, Charles S 1915 

Langdon, Woodbury, 

Portsmouth, N. H 1877 

Langford, Herbert E 1918 

Langley, William C 191 7 

Lanier, Charles 1865 

Lanier, James F. D 1917 

Law, Frank E 1912 

Leach, Arthur B 1902 

Leavitt, Charles W 191 1 

Lee, Arthur P 1917 

Lee, Charles N., 

Farmington, Conn. . . . 1903 

Lee, Ivy L 191S 

Le Gendre, William C 1892 

Legg, George 1895 

Lehman, Arthur 1903 

Lehman, PhiUp 1898 

Lehman, Sigmund M 1898 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Kohn, Arnold 1914 

Kohns, Lee 1891 

Kopper, PhiUp W., Jr 1910 

Kops, Daniel 1909 

Kountze, Luther 1869 

Kracke, Frederick J. H 191 5 

Krech, Alvin W 191S 

Kremer, William N 1899 

Kridel, Samuel 1902 

Kuh, Charles E 1917 

Kuhne, Percival 1897 

Kunhardt, Henry R 189S 

Kunz, George F 1917 

Kuttroff, Adolf 1889 



Leland, Arthur S 19" 

Lenci, Thomas A 1917 

Lesher, Arthur L 1884 

Leverich, Charles D., 

Corona, L.I 1891 

Levy, Charles E 1904 

Levy, Jefferson M 1898 

Lewis, Edward L 1902 

Lewisohn, Adolph 1902 

Lewisohn, Sam A 1916 

Lilienthal, Joseph L 1909 

Lincoln, Frederic W 1897 

Lindenthal, Gustav 1909 

Lindsay, L. Seton i9i<5 

Linton, George 1916 

Lisman, Frederick J 1902 

Litchfield, Edward H 1899 

Littauer, Lucius N 1899 

Lloyd, Francis G 1890 

Lockett, Arthur Hobart 191 2 

Lockhart, Frederick C 1916 

Loeb, CariM 19" 

Loeb, William, Jr 1917 

Loeser, Vincent 191S 

Loines, Stephen 1897 

Look, David M 1894 

Loomis, Edward E 191 5 

Loomis, Edward N 1902 



I! 



t, 



{ 



. -^T.. 



*4 



III 




!ti )-' 



282 



APPENDIX 



KAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Loree, Leonor F 1912 

Lorsch, Arthur 1917 

Lovejoy, Frederick B 191 7 

Lovett, Robert S 1909 

Low, WiUiamC 1917 

Luckenbach, Edgar F 1901 

Lunger, John B 1912 



1 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

LyaU, WiUiam L 1912 

Lybrand, William M 1910 

Lyman, Frank 1900 

Lynch, John Hampton 1903 

Lyon, Emory S 1910 

Lyons, Edward 1916 



Mc 



McAlpin, D. Hunter 1916 

McAlpin, George L 1913 

McAlpin, WilUam W 1907 

McAneny, George 19^4 

McCaU, John C 1910 

McCarroll, WiUiam 1897 

McCoUough, Charies A 1913 

McComb, David J 1908 

McCutchen, Charles W 1906 

McDonald, Willis, Jr 1914 

McDougall, Walter 1907 

McFadden, George H 1903 

McGarrah, Gates W 1899 



McHugh, John 1916 

Mclntyre, William H 1902 

McKenna, WiUiam L 1902 

McKenzie, Herbert C 191 2 

McKesson, John 1889 

McKinney, Henry N 191 2 

McLane, Guy Richards 1909 

McLean, James 1900 

McManus, Edward F 1916 

McMuUen, John 1914 

McNeir, George 1896 

McWhorter, Charles F 1917 



M 



Mabon, James B 1901 

MacArthur, John R 1916 

Macdonald, James A 1897 

Mackay, Clarence H 1903 

MacKay, Frederic D 1909 

Mackay, Malcolm S 1913 

MacLean, Charles F 191 2 

MacYeagh, Franklin, 

Chicago, lU 1902 

Macy, George H 1891 

Macy, Nelson 1913 

Macy, V. Everit 1902 

Magoffin, James R 1908 

MaH, Pierre 1889 

Manning, John B 1890 

ManvUle, T. Frank 1904 

Marden, Francis S 1904 

Markle, John 1902 

Marks, Marcus M 1903 

Marling, Alfred E 1897 



MarUng, Charles E 1916 

Marsh, Henry W 1909 

Marsh, Joseph A 1903 

Marsh, MelviUe A 1910 

MarshaU, Waldo H 1909 

Marston, Edgar J 1912 

Marston, Edgar L 1902 

Marston, Edwin S 191S 

Martin, Bradley 1912 

Martin, Henry C 1911 

Martinez, Aristides 1897 

Masury, JohnW 1904 

Mather, Samuel, 

Cleveland, 1902 

Matheson, WUUam J 1902 

MaxweU, Howard W 191 1 

MaxweU, Robert 1901 

May, George OUver 1916 

Mayer, Morris 1902 

Maynard, Duff G 191S 



APPENDIX 



^^Z 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Maynard, Edwin P 1913 

Meade, Richard W 1915 

Megargel, Roy C 1915 

Mehren, Edward J 1917 

Meinhard, Morton H 191 2 

Melcher, Josiah R 1913 

Mendelsohn, Sigmund 191 2 

Merck, George 1905 

Meredith, WUUam T 1897 

MerriU, Edwin G 1910 

MerriU, Wm. WiUis 1906 

Metcalf, Manton B 1909 

Mettler, John Wyckoff . ... 1911 

Metz, Herman A 1899 

Meurer, Jacob 1907 

Meyer, Abraham B 1904 

Meyer, Harry H 1902 

Meyer, Henry C 1875 

Meyer, John Henry 1904 

Meyer, Joseph E 1906 

Meyer, Julius P 1912 

Meyer, Leopold, 

Newark, N. J 1907 

MiUer, Andrew J 1917 

Miller, Edward C 1912 

Miller, Jacob W 1893 

MiUer, John DouU 1899 

MiUett, Stephen C 1917 

Milliken, Gerrish H 191 7 

MiUiken, Seth M 1882 

MiUs, Abraham G 1887 

MiUs, Andrew 1892 

MiUs, JohnT 1895 

Mills, Ogden 1906 

MiUs, W. McMaster 1905 

Minton, Francis L 1901 

Mitchel, Ormsby M 1903 

MitcheU, Francis B., 

Rochester, N. Y 1888 

MitcheU, John J., 

Chicago, lU 1902 

Moen, Leclanche 1915 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Molitor, Frederic A 1916 

MoUenhauer, Henry F 1906 

MoUeson, George E 1905 

Monks, John, Jr 1900 

Monroe, RoUand G 1916 

Montgomery, James Moore. 1901 

Montgomery, Richard M. . 1881 

Montgomery, Robert H 1909 

Moody, Harry A 1916 

Moore, Charles A., Jr 1905 

Moore, John C 1906 

Moore, WiUiam H 1902 

Moran, Robert G 1912 

Morgan, J. Pierpont 1894 

Morgan, James L 1906 

Morgan, WiUiam F 1896 

Morgenthau, Henry 1901 

MorreU, Joseph B 1912 

Morris, Effingham B., 

Philadelphia, Pa 1902 

Morrison, David M 1891 

Morrison, Louis W 1904 

Morrow, D wight W 1915 

Morse, Daniel P 1900 

Morse, James R 1893 

Moseley, Mercer P 191 7 

Mosle, George R 1903 

Mott, Howard S 1916 

Mott, Jordan L 1913 

Mott, WiUiam C 1914 

MuUer, Carl 1897 

Munger, Henry C 191 7 

Munn, John P 1909 

Munro, Robert F 191S 

Munroe, Henry Whitney. . . 1897 

Munsey, Frank A 1899 

Munson, Frank C 1915 

Murphy, Patrick Francis.. . 1915 

Murphy, WiUiam D 1899 

Murray, Thomas E 191 S 

Myers,' Theodore W 1896 



)•■ 



v»j 



\ 






y) 



1 



t 



.7, 



wk 






Mi^ 



284 



APPENDIX 



N 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Nash, Walter H 1916 

Nash, William A 1891 

Nathan, Alfred 1905 

Nathan, Max 1891 

Naumburg, Aaron 1897 

Naumburg, Elkan 1879 

Naumburg, George W 1899 

Naumburg, Max 1889 

Naumburg, Walter W 1895 

Neuhoff, Karl W 1915 

Newbold, Arthur E., 

Philadelphia, Pa 190S 

Newcomb, James G 1904 

Newington, Harry M 191 5 

Nichols, Acosta 1899 

Nichols, George, 

Boston, Mass 190S 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Nichols, John W. T 1900 

Nichols, WiUiam H 1894 

Nicol, Robert A 1916 

Nissen, Ludwig 1900 

Niven, JohnB 1912 

Nix, John W 1910 

Nixon, Lewis 1898 

Noonan, William T., 

Rochester, N. Y 1913 

Norden, Hermann, 

Pasadena, Cal 190^ 

Norton, Charles Dyer 191 1 

Norton, Edward N 1910 

Norton, SkeflSngton S 1913 

Nugent, Frank Louis 1901 

Nutting, J. Frank 1916 



O 



Oakman, Walter G 

Obermayer, Charles J . 
O'Brien, Edward C... 

Ochs, Adolph S 

Oddie, Orville, Jr 

Odell, Benjamin B., Jr. 
O'Donohue, Charles A. 
Olcott, Eben Erskine. . 

Oler, Wesley M 

Ollesheimer, Henry 

Olney, Charles 

Olyphant, Robert 



Packard, Edwin 

Page, Edward D., 

Oakland, N.J 

Page, Frank C. B 

Page, J. Seaver 

Pagenstecher, Albrecht, Jr. 

Paine, Augustus G., Jr 

Paine, Willis S 

Palmer, Nicholas F 



1897 

191S 
1900 

1902 

1911 

1912 

189s 
1902 

1912 

1906 

1909 

1882 



1890 

1903 
1909 
1886 
1912 

1913 
1890 

1888 



O'Neil, David W 1910 

Oppenheimer, Julius 191 1 

O'Rourke, John F 1909 

Orvis, Edwin W 1902 

Osbom, Herbert 1909 

Osborne, Loyall Allen 1907 

Ottley, James Henry I9<59 

Outerbridge, A. Emilius 191 2 

Outerbridge, Eugenius H.. . 1903 

Outerbridge, Frank R 1916 

Owen, Raymond M 1909 

Owens, WiUiam W., Jr 1902 



Parker, Forrest H 1891 

Parr, Benjamin 191 S 

Parson, Hubert T 1916 

Parsons, Frank H 191? 

Parsons, Harry de 

Berkeley 1902 

Parsons, William H 1885 

Pate, William C 1902 

Patrick, Charles H 1897 



V] 



APPENDIX 



285 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Patterson, William A 191 6 

Peabody, Charles A 1910 

Peabody, George Foster — 1886 

Pearce, Edward E 191 1 

Peaslee, Edward H 1901 

Peck, Charles Edmund 1909 | 

Peck, Wallace F 1916 

Peck, William E 1904 

Perkins, George W 1902 

Perkins, Robert P 1903 

PerMns, WiUiam H 1888 

Perkins, WiUiam M 1906 

Perry, John Moore, 

St. James, L. 1 1916 

Peters, Ralph 1913 

Peters, Samuel T 1887 

Peters, WilHam R 1897 

PhUips, WiUiam P 1912 

PhUUps, John B 1902 

Pierce, WaUace L., 

Boston, Mass 1907 

Pierson, Lewis E 1909 

Pinkus, Frederick S 1882 

Pirie, Samuel C 1910 

Piatt, Abner H 1917 

Piatt, WiUard H 1897 

Piatt, WiUard Rice 1914 

Platten, John W 1910 

PUmpton, George A 1895 

PoUock, Walter B 1909 

Pomeroy, Daniel E 191 1 

Poor, J. Harper 1911 

Poor, Ruel W 1897 

Porges, Gustave 191 2 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Porter, H. Hobart 1904 

Porter, WiUiam H 1893 

Post, Charles H 1898 

Post, George A 1912 

Post, George B 1908 

Post, James H 1902 

Potter, Frederick 1901 

Potter, James Brown 1895 

Potts, Charles E 1916 

Potts, WUUam B 1905 

Potts, WilUam R 1895 

Pratt, Charles M 1885 

Pratt, DaUas B 1901 

Pratt, Edward Ewing 191 7 

Pratt, Frederic B 1898 

Pratt, Harold 1 1907 

Prendergast, WUUam A 1909 

Prentiss, John Wing 1909 

Presbrey, Frank 191 2 

Pressprich, Reginald W 1915 

Price, Joseph M 1911 

Price, Walter W 1917 

Probst, Arthur O 1906 

Probst, John D 1902 

Prosser, Seward 191 5 

Prosser, Thomas 1906 

Pniyn, Robert C, 

Albany, N. Y 1901 

Pugsley, ComeUus A 1897 

PuUeyn, John J 1912 

Putnam, WiUiam A 1891 

Pyne, M. Taylor 1902 

Pyne, Percy R 1902 



I ( 



I 



•I 



I 



IV 



Quinlan, James , 



1907 



Rainey, Paul J 1906 

Ramsay, Dick S 1891 

Ramsey, George 1909 

Rand, Charles F 1903 

RandaU, Henry M 1909 



Randle, Arthur E., 

Washington, D. C 1902 

Raven, Anton A 1897 

Rawitser, Herman 1914 

Raymond, Arthur B 191 2 



•1 



-'•iMiBI 



4 
.1 



il 



u 



V. 



286 



APPENDIX 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Raymond, George H 191 1 

Raymond, Irving E 1906 

Raynor, Forrest 1900 

Rea, Samuel, 

Philadelphia, Pa 1903 

Read, George R 1905 

Reid, A. Duncan 1917 

Reid, Daniel G 1903 

Reid, David C 1917 

Reid, Ogden Mills 1910 

Reid, Wallace 1909 

Reimer, Otto E 1907 

Remington, Franklin 1910 

Renken, Frederick 1912 

Renshaw, Charies 1914 

Rhoades, John Harsen 1903 

Rhodes, Bradford 1899 

Richard, Edwin A 1913 

Richard, Oscar L 1903 

Richards, Charles A 1916 

Richards, E. Ira 1906 

Richards, Ellis G 1902 

Richards, Eugene Lamb. . . 1914 

Richards, Lowell L 1913 

Richardson, Dwight S 1897 

Richmond, Stacy C 1916 

Richter, Charies J 1896 

Ridgely, William Barret, 

Washington, D. C 1907 

Riker, John J 1912 

Ring, Welding 1897 

Rionda, Manuel 1916 

Ris, Bernard 1917 

Ritchie, Ryerson, 

Detroit, Mich 1914 

Robert, Francis B 191 7 

Robert, Samuel 1909 

Robertson, Louis J 191 7 

Robinson, Allan 1917 

Sabin, Charles H 191S 

Sachs, Arthur 1911 

Sachs, Harry 1900 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Robinson, Andrew J 1897 

Robinson, Douglas 1901 

Robinson, Drew King 1906 

Robinson, George N 1902 

Robson, Theodore 1889 

Rockefeller, John D 1889 

Rockefeller, John D., Jr. . . 1900 

Rockefeller, William 1888 

Roe, Frank O 1916 

Roebling, Washington A., 

Trenton, N.J 1902 

Rogers, Allen Merrill 1906 

Rogers, Charles B., 

Utica, N. Y 1901 

Rogers, Edgar W 1916 

Rogers, Edward L 1905 

Rogers, Hubert E 1916 

Rogers, Noah C 1904 

Rohaut, Albert 1917 

Romer, Alfred 1896 

Rosen, Walter T 191 S 

Rosenbaum, Henry C 1898 

Rosenfeld, William 1 1902 

Rossiter, Clinton L 1912 

Rossiter, Edward L 1904 

Rothschild, Simon F 1902 

Rothschild, V. Sydney 1897 

Rousmaniere, John E 19 16 

Rowe, Frederick W 1914 

Ruhl, Louis 1917 

Runyon, Carman R 1906 

Runyon, Edward Wheelock 191 7 

Runyon, Walter Clark 191 7 

Rusch, Henry A 1917 

Rushmore, Townsend 1903 

Russell, Archibald D 1896 

Ryan, John D 1915 

Ryan, Thomas F 1897 

Ryle, Arthur 1899 



Sachs, Paul J., 

Cambridge, Mass 191 1 

Sachs, Samuel 1886 



APPENDIX 



287 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Sachs, Walter E 191 1 

Salomon, Arthur K 191 7 

Salomon, William 1886 

Salt, Albert L 1916 

Sampson, Charles E 1910 

Sanchez, Ricardo, 

Liverpool, England 1914 

Sanderson, Lloyd Bo wen. . . 1903 

Satterlee, Ernest K 191 7 

Satterlee, Herbert L 1904 

Saunders, WilUam L 1907 

Savage, Edward S 191 2 

Sawyer, PhiUp 1910 

Scammell, Frederick E 191 7 

Schaefer, Edward C 1905 

Schaefer, Henry 1906 

Schaefer, J. Louis 1909 

Schaffer, Frank 1910 

Schall, William, Jr 1897 

Schanck, George Edgar 1890 

Schenck, Edwin S 1907 

Schenck, Henry A 1909 

Scherer, Oscar 1900 

Schieffelin, William Jay 1894 

Schieren, Charles A 1909 

Schierenberg, August 1908 

Schiflf, Jacob H 1889 

Schiff, Mortimer L 1899 

Schlesinger, Leo 1902 

Schmelzel, James H 1907 

Schnakenberg, Daniel 1899 

Schniewind, Heinrich 1910 

Schoonmaker, Sylvanus L. . 1904 

Schreiber, Otto A 1910 

Schuster, Richard 1904 

Schwab, Charles M 1902 

Schwab, Gustav 1909 

Schwarz, Paul 1893 

Scott, Donald 191 1 

Scott, Walter 1913 

Seagrist, Francis K 191 2 

Seaman, Henry B., 

Washington, D. C. . , . 1909 

Seaman, Howard C 1916 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Sears, Joseph D 1917 

Sears, Joseph Hamblen . 19 10 

See, Alonzo B 1903 

Seed, John H 1890 

Seggermann, Frederick K . . 191 1 

Seko, Konosuke 191 7 

Selig, Arthur L 1917 

Seligman, Henry 1899 

Seligman, Jefferson 1902 

Seligman, Joseph L 191 1 

Semler, George 1905 

Senff, Frederick W., 

Newburgh, N. Y 191 1 

Shainwald, Ralph L 1902 

Shallcross, Cecil F 1904 

Shattuck, Albert R 1897 

Shaw, Munson G 1914 

Shaw, Robert Alfred 1915 

Shaw, Walter W., 

Bournemouth, England 1907 

Shaw, William N 1910 

Sheldon, Edward W 1907 

Sheldon, George R 1894 

Sherer, William 1891 

Sherman, Charles Austin. . . 1909 

Shibley, Fred W 1917 

Shoninger, Bernard J 1903 

Shoninger, Charles 1903 

Shonts, Theodore P 1915 

Sicher, Dudley D 1918 

Sickel, William G 191 2 

Sidenberg, Charles 1903 

Siedenburg, Reinhard 1893 

Siegbert, Julius 1909 

Simmons, Charles H 1897 

Simmons, Francis R 1904 

Simmons, John S 1903 

Simmons, Joseph F 1900 

Simmons, Wallace D., 

St. Louis, Mo 1905 

Simmons, Wil\iam 1918 

Simmons, Z. G., 

Kenosha, Wis 191 1 

Simonson, William A 1902 



s •> 



\ 



I 



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-■' — -^»^- 



¥\ 



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v 


1 


ll 


! ' 


II 


1 \ 


1 


! 1 


1 


!■ 



I 



\ 



288 



APPENDIX 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Simpson, Ernest L 1906 

Simpson, William L. H 1909 

Sisson, Francis H 1917 

Sizer, Robert R 1902 

Skinner, William 1898 

Skougaard, Jens C. L 1905 

Slade, Francis Louis 191 3 

Slater, John 1906 

Slee, J. NoahH 1906 

Sleicher, John A 1909 

Sloan, Benson Bennett 1915 

Sloan, Samuel 19" 

Sloane, Henry T 1899 

Sloane, John 1906 

Sloane, Malcolm Douglas. . 191 5 

Sloane, William 1897 

Slocum, Thomas W 1901 



Smith, Alfred Gilbert. 



1906 



Smith, Alfred H 19^4 

Smith, Arthur L. J 1913 

Smith, Arthur M 1915 

Smith, Augustine J 1906 

Smith, Charles Herbert 1902 

Smith, Elijah P 1891 

Smith, Freeborn G 191S 

Smith, Howard C 1894 

Smith, J. Waldo 1909 

Smith, James A 1905 

Smith, Joseph K 191? 

Smith, MerrittHaviland... 1909 

Smith, Robert A. C 1889 

Smith, WiUiam Frothingham 1906 

Smithers, Francis S 1890 

Smull, J. Barstow 1917 

Snook, Thomas Edward. . . . 191 2 

Snow, Elbridge G 1902 

Snyder, Valentine P 1902 

Soper, George A 1912 

Sorenson, John S 1916 

Sorzano, Julio F 1889 

Southwick, Francis H 1901 

Spadone, Henry 1916 

Sparks, T. Ashley 1912 

Sparks, WiUiam J 1917 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Speers, James M 1910 

Spence, Lewis H 1901 

Sperry, William M 19H 

Speyer, James 1891 

Spiegelberg, Isaac N 1900 

Spiegelberg, William 1 1897 

Spofford, Charles A 1914 

Sprague, Frank J 1910 

Stanley, Edward O 1906 

Starbuck, Charles A 1909 

Stauffen, Ernest, Jr 19" 

Stearns, John N 1918 

Stebbins, Horace Chase 191 1 

Steele, Charles 1912 

Steele, Sanford H 1903 

Steers, Henry 1910 

Stein, Fred M 1902 

Steinway, Charles H 1897 

Stern, Leopold 1897 

Stem, Louis 1889 

Stembach, Morris 1902 

Stemfeld, Theodore 191 2 

Sterrett, Joseph E 191 2 

Stettinius, Edward R 1916 

Stevens, John P 1913 

Stevens, W. Tyrie 1915 

Stewart, Duncan M 1917 

Stewart, James C 1916 

Stewart, John A 1891 

Stewart, John W 1918 

Stewart, Lispenard 1899 

Stewart, Louis 191 1 

Stewart, William Rhine- 
lander 189s 

Stillman, Charles 1909 

Stillman, James 1886 

Stoddard, Henry L 1915 

Stoddart, Laurence B 1912 

Stokes, James 1873 

Stone, Charles A 1916 

Stone, I. Frank 1906 

Stotesbury, Edward T 1902 

Stout, Andrew Varick 1906 

Stout, Charles H 1899 



APPENDIX 



289 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Stout, Joseph S 1906 

Straight, Willard 1914 

Stratton, E. Piatt 191 5 

Straus, Herbert N 1906 

Straus, Jesse Isidor 1897 

Straus, Nathan 1889 

Straus, Percy Selden 1900 

Strauss, Albert 1902 

Strauss, Frederick 1902 

Strauss, Jacob 1901 

Strickland, William R 1917 

Strong, Benjamin, Jr 191 2 

Sturgis, Frank K 1905 

Taintor, Charles N 1913 

Talcott, J. Frederick 1916 

Talmadge, Henry P 1887 

Talmage, John F 1906 

Tams, J. Frederic 191 7 

Tarbell, Gage E 1900 

Tatanis, Petros P 1910 

Tatnall, Henry, 

Philadelphia, Pa 1903 

Taussig, Walter M 1909 

Taylor, George C 191 5 

Taylor, James W 1907 

Taylor, Willard U 191 7 

Taylor, William A 1913 

Taylor, WilUam H 1905 

Tenney, Charles H 1884 

Tenney, Daniel G 1897 

Terry, John T 1913 

Thayer, Harry B 1904 

Thayer, J. Warren, 

Scarsdale, N. Y 1909 

Thom, WiUiam B 1895 

Thomas, Edward Russell, 

Paris, France 1897 

Thomas, Eugene P 1913 

Thomas, Ransom H 1902 

Thomas, Seth E., Jr 1910 

Thompson, Henry Burling, 

WUmington, Del 1907 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Suffem, Robert A., 

London, England 19 13 

Sulzberger, Cyrus L 1897 

Sumner, Charles P 1909 

Surbrug, John W 1898 

Sutphen, Henry R 191 7 

Sutro, Lionel 1901 

Sutro, Richard 1901 

Swenson, Eric Pierson 1901 

Switzer, Frederick E 1913 

Swords, Henry C 1894 

Sylvester, A. L 1902 

Symington, Robert B 191 5 

Thompson, Henry S 1910 

Thompson, J. Walter 1903 

Thompson, WiUiam B 191 5 

Thomson, James, 

New Bedford, Mass. . . 1916 

Thorburn, Alfred M 1909 

Thome, Gilbert G 1906 

Thome, John W 1917 

Thome, Jonathan 1885 

Tiemann, Louis S 191 7 

Tierney, Myles 1905 

Tilford, Frank 1889 

Tilney, John S 1887 

Tim, Louis B 1902 

Timms, Walter B 191 7 

Timolat, James Guyon 1910 

Tingue, WiUiam J 1907 

Toch, Henry M 1916 

Toch, Maximilian 1916 

Tod, J. Kennedy 1891 

Tomkins, Calvin 1897 

Towne, Henry R 1896 

Townsend, Edward 1905 

Townsend, J. Henry 1904 

Tracy, Marcus H 1910 

Treadwell, Harry Hayden. . 1901 

Tremaine, Harry B 1916 

Trevor, John B 1906 

Tripp, Guy E 1914 



\ 



.1 



J 



I 



( > 



} i 



11i.l' ;/ 



290 



APPENDIX 



NAME DATE OP ELECTION 

Trowbridge, Charles A 1910 

Trowbridge, Edmund Q. . . 19 10 

Trowbridge, George F 1905 

TnimbuU, Frank 1913 

Tuck, Edward, 

Paris, France 1876 

TuUy, WiUiam J 19U 

Turnbull, Frank S 191? 

Ullmann, Samuel 1914 

Ulman, Julien Stevens 1913 

Underwood, Frederick D . . . 1901 



Vail, Theodore N 1915 

Van Antwerp, William C . 191 5 
Van Buskirk, De Witt, 

Bayonne, N. J 19^7 

Van Cleaf , John C 1906 

Vanderbilt, Cornelius 1900 

Vanderhoef , Harman B 1898 

Vanderlip, Frank A 1903 

Van Dusen, Samuel C 1902 

Van Inwegen, Charles F., 

Port Jervis, N. Y 1901 

Van Norden, Warner M . . . 1897 
Van Tuyl, George C, Jr. . . 1915 
VanVleck, Joseph, Jr 191 2 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Turner, John M., 

San Juan, P. R 1912 

Turnure, George 1907 

Tuttle, William P 191 5 

Tuttle, Winthrop M 1917 

Twining, Edmund S 1916 

Twitchell, Herbert K 191 1 

Tyner, Charles L 1912 



U 



Underwood, John T 1910 

Urban, George, Jr., 

Buffalo, N.Y 1901 



Vickers, H. Mountague 191 5 

Vickers, Thomas L 1877 

Viet, Richard C 1917 

Vietor, Cari L 1913 

Victor, Ernest G 1917 

Vietor, George F., Jr 1912 

Vietor, Thomas F 1906 

ViUa, Alfonso P 1912 

Vogel, Martin 19^4 

Vogelstein, Ludwig 191 2 

Von Dohlen, Lawrence M. . 1916 

Von Stade, Frederick H — 1897 

Vreeland, Herbert H 1902 



w 



Walker, Alexander 1906 

Walker, Elisha 1917 

Walker, Richard L •• . 1913 

Wallace, James N 19^5 

Wallace, John F 1909 

Wallis, Frederick A 19^7 

Walter, William 1 1897 

Walton, David S 1897 

Walworth, Charles W 1916 

Wanamaker, John 1901 

Wanamaker, Rodman 191 2 



Warburg, FeUx M 1897 

Warburg, Paul M 1903 

Ward, George Gray 1894 

Ward, John G 1913 

Warden, David T 1917 

Waring, Arthur B 1897 

Warner, Charles Blaine 1913 

Warner, Franklin H 1916 

Warner, George H 1916 

Warner, James Ward 191 S 

Warner, Lucien C 1886 



APPENDIX 



291 



NAME DATE OP ELECTION 

Warren, Charles H 1911 

Warren, Dorman T 1881 

Warren, William R 1900 

Waterbury, John 1 1895 

Watson, Arthur W 1894 

Watson, John J., Jr 1911 

Watson, Thomas L 1915 

Watts, Ridley 1907 

Weaver, S. Fullerton 1915 

Webb, H. St. John 1915 

Webb, Silas D 1899 

Weil, Edmond 1915 

Welch, Alex. McMillan. ... 191 5 

Weld, Francis M 1911 

Wells, William Storrs 1901 

Welsh, S. Charles 1897 

Wertheim, Jacob 191 1 

West, William T 191 2 

Whalen, John 1905 

Wheeler, Schuyler S., 

Ampere, N. J 1894 

Wheelock, William E 1910 

Wheelock, William H 1901 

Whicher, Louis E 1915 

White, Alfred T 1897 

WTiite, Francis F 1909 

White, James G 1897 

White, Major A 1913 

White, William Augustus. 1897 

Whitehouse, J. Henry 1894 

Whitman, Clarence 1897 

Whitman, C. Morton 1914 

Whitman, Nathaniel 1890 

Whitmarsh, Theodore F. . . 1910 

Whitney, Alfred Rutgers, Jr. 1909 

Wickes, Edward A 1872 

Wickham, William Hull.... 1883 

Wiggin, Albert H 1904 

Wilkinson, James 1910 

Willard, LeBaron Sands... . 1913 

WiUcox, William G 1910 

Willcox, William R 1904 

Willets, Howard, 

WhitePlains, N. v.... 1892 



NAME DATE OP ELECTION 

Williams, Arthur 1911 

Williams, Benjamin A 1907 

Williams, Clark 1902 

Williams, Frank S 1888 

Williams, Henry K. S 1910 

Williams, John J 1906 

WiUiams, Richard H 1887 

Williams, William H 1914 

Williams, William Henry.. . 191 7 

Willis, Grinnell 1904 

Wills, Charles Sinclair 1902 

Wilson, George 191 7 

Wilson, George T 1896 

Wilson, Henry R 1901 

Wilson, John A., 

Tenafly, N. J 1902 

Wilson, Marshall Orme 1890 

Wilson, Richard T., Jr 1890 

Wimpfheimer, Adolph 1897 

Wimpfheimer, Charles A. . . 1909 

Wingate, Roy W 1913 

Winslow, Clarion B 191 7 

Winter, Edwin W 1909 

Winter, Hermann 191 2 

Witherspoon, Charles G... . 1913 

Wittenberg, Charles J 1905 

Wolf, Edwin H 1905 

Wolfe, Henderson M 1909 

Wollman, William J 1909 

Wood, John H 1887 

Wood, Otis F 1898 

Wood, William S 1917 

Wood, Willis D 1907 

Woodin, William H 1902 

Woodward, Hedley R 191 2 

Woodward, W^illiam 1904 

Woolley, Clarence M 191 7 

Woolverton, Samuel 1899 

Woolworth, Frank W 1904 

Work, Bertram G 1915 

Wotherspoon, William 

Wallace 1912 

Wray, Alexander H 1903 

Wright, Solomon 1917 






1 



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,'i i . I 



\i- 



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292 



APPENDIX 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Yardley, Farnham 1913 

Yoakum, Benjamin F 1908 



Zabriskie, Elmer T 191 5 

Zabriskie, George A 191 1 

Zehnder, Charles H 1908 



NAME DATE OF ELECTION 

Yohe, John W 1917 

Young, Richard 1891 



Ziegler, William, Jr 1913 

Zinkeisen, Max 1913 

Zittel, Frederick 1904 



There are three classes of members, resident, non-resident, and 
honorary. Those whose addresses are given are non-resident. 



The total membership on March 7, 1918, was as follows: 

Resident members 

Non-Resident members 

Honorary members 

Total membership 



1,527 

91 

9 

1,627 



vm 



CATALOGUE OF PORTRAITS AND SCULPTURE 

Portraits 



William H. Fogg. 
Josiah M. Fiske. 
Cornelius N. Bliss. 
WiUiam E. Dodge (2d). 
Cornelius Vanderbilt (2d), 
J. Pierpont Morgan. 
William H. Webb. 
J. Edward Simmons. 
John D. Rockefeller. 
Andrew Carnegie. 
John S. Kennedy. 
Henry I. Wyckoff. 
John A. Stevens. 
Matthew Maury. 
George Wilson. 
Alexander Hamilton. 
Daniel D. Tompkins. 
Albert Gallatin. 
John Sherman. 
Carl Schurz. 

General Ulysses S. Grant. 
General WiUiam T. Sher- 
man. 
General Philip H. Sheridan. 
Admiral David G. Farragut. 
De Witt Clinton. 
De Witt CUnton. 
John A. King. 
Edwin D. Morgan. 
John A. Dix. 
Enoch L. Fancher. 
Cadwallader Colden. 
Francis Egerton. 
Richard Cobden. 



NO. 




NO. 


I. 


John Cruger. 


35. 


2. 


Hugh Wallace. 


36. 


3. 


Elias Desbrosses. 


37. 


4. 


Henry White. 


38. 


5. 


Theophylact Bache. 


39. 


6. 


William Walton. 


40. 


7. 


Isaac Low. 


41. 


8. 


John Alsop. 


42. 


9- 


John Broome. 


43- 


10. 


Comfort Sands. 


44. 


II. 


John Murray. 


45. 


12. 


Cornelius Ray. 


46. 


13. 


William Bayard. 


47. 


14. 


Robert Lenox. 


48. 


15- 


Isaac Carow. 


49. 


16. 


James De Peyster Ogden. 


SO- 


17. 


James Gore King. 


51. 


18. 


Moses H. Grinnell. 


52. 


19. 


Elias Hicks. 


53- 


20. 


Pelatiah Perit. 


54. 


21. 


Abiel Abbot Low. 


55- 


22. 


William E. Dodge. 


56. 


23- 


Samuel D. Babcock. 




24. 


George W. Lane. 


57. 


25. 


James M. Brown. 


58. 


26. 


Charles S. Smith. 


59. 


27. 


Alexander E. Orr. 


60. 


28. 


Morris K. Jesup. 


61. 


29. 


James Boorman. 


62. 


30. 


Royal Phelps. 


63. 


31. 


Jonathan Sturges. 


64- 


32. 


George Opdyke. 


65. 


33. 


Simeon B. Chittenden. 


66. 


34. 


Solon Humphreys. 


67. 



■i> 



ll 



si" 



293 



V 



(< 



294 

NO. 

68. 
69. 

70. 

71- 

72. 

73. 

74- 

75- 
76. 

77. 
78. 

79. 
80. 
81. 
82. 

83. 
84. 

85. 
86. 

87. 
88. 
89. 
90. 
91. 
92. 

93. 
94. 

95. 
96. 

97. 
98. 

99. 
100. 

lOI. 

102. 
103. 
104. 
105. 
106. 
107. 
108. 
109. 
no. 
III. 



APPENDIX 



John Bright. 
Samuel Moriey. 
Gideon Lee. 
Ambrose C. Kingsland. 
William F. Havemeyer. 
Cyrus W. Field. 
Cyrus W. Field. 
George Peabody. 
Junius S. Morgan. 
John Jacob Astor. 
William B. Astor. 
John Jacob Astor (2d). 
Cornelius Vanderbilt. 
William H. Vanderbilt. 
Kinloch Stuart. 
Robert L. Stuart. 
Robert McCrea. 
Peter Cooper. 
John David Wolfe. 
Preserved Fish. 
David Leavitt. 
Francis Skiddy. 
Gustav Schwab. 
ElUot C. Cowdin. 
Anson G. Phelps. 

George T. Hope. 

Jeremiah P. Robinson. 

Thomas B. Coddington. 

George W. Blunt. 

Walter R. Jones. 

Loring Andrews. 

Joshua Bates. 

Samuel B. Ruggles. 

Robert Ray. 

John C. Green. 

Charles H. Marshall. 

James Stokes. 

Marshall O. Roberts. 

John Jay Phelps. 

Paul Spofford. 

Thomas Tileston. 

Rufus Prime. 

George T. Trimble. 
, Isaac Sherman. 



NO. 

112. 

113- 
114. 

115- 
116. 

117. 

118. 

119. 

120. 

121. 

122. 

123. 
124. 
125. 
126. 
127. 
128. 
129. 
130. 

131. 
132. 

133. 
134- 
135. 
136. 
137- 
138. 
139- 
140. 

141. 
142. 

143. 
144. 

145- 
146. 
147. 
148. 

149- 
150. 

151. 
152. 

153. 
154. 
155. 



Horace B. Claflin. 
Jeremiah Milbank. 
Robert H. McCurdy. 
John Caswell. 
Jacob Barker. 
Daniel Drake Smith. 
Alfred S. Barnes. 
James Brown. 
Andrew V. Stout. 
John S. Williams. 
George L. Nichols. 
George Jones. 
Ezra Nye. 
Benjamin H. Field. 
EUhu Spicer. 
Casper Meier. 
Elliott F. Shepard. 
William Walter Phelps. 
Luman Reed. 
Joseph Francis. 
Eugene Kelly. 
Benjamin B. Sherman. 
Ambrose Snow. 
John D. Jones. 

Henry F. Spaulding. 

Hugh N. Camp. 

Jackson S. Schultz. 

Christian G. Gunther. 

F. Frederic Gunther. 

Frederick A. Conkling. 

John P. Paulison. 

John Roach. 

Richard Kelly. 

William Denning. 

Henry B. Hyde. 

Charles Butler. 

Henry Casimir De Rham. 

James S. T. Stranahan. 

Hanson K. Coming. 

Moses Taylor. 

Edward K. Collins. 

Richard Irvin. 

Silas Holmes. 

David Dows. 



1; 



[• > 



APPENDIX 



29s 



NO. 

156. 

157- 
158. 

159. 
160. 

161. 

162. 

163. 

164. 

165. 

166. 

167. 

168. 

169. 

170. 

171. 

172. 

173. 
174. 

175. 
176. 

177. 
178. 
179. 
180. 
181. 
182. 

183. 
184. 

185. 
186. 

187. 

188, 



Frederick S. Winston. 
Thomas Dunham. 
Jacob Lorillard. 
John Jay Knox. 
James Lenox. 
Richard Lathers. 
Collis P. Huntington. 
Charles King. 
Jesse Seligman. 
Joseph Seligman. 
Theodore A. Havemeyer. 
Henry E. Nesmith. 
Shepherd Knapp. 
George Bliss. 
George S. Coe. 
Josiah Orne Low. 
Edward H. R. Lyman. 
Theophylact Bache. 
Charies Lewis Tiffany. 
Hugh H. Hanna. 
Amos R. Eno. 
Alexander T. Stewart. 
Austin Corbin. 
Walter T. Hatch. 
Francis A. Palmer. 
James M. Constable. 
Alfred Van Santvoord. 
Daniel C. Robbins. 
William Cullen Bryant. 
Samuel F. B. Morse. 
Lieutenant Otway H. Ber- 

rjrman. 
The Atlantic Cable Pro 

jectors. 
Howard Potter. 



NO. 

189. 
190. 
191. 
192. 

193- 
194. 

195. 
196. 

197. 

198. 

199. 

200. 

201. 

202. 

203. 

204. 

205. 

206. 

207. 

208. 

209. 

210. 

211. 

212. 

213. 

214. 

215. 

216. 

217. 

218. 

219. 

220. 

221, 



Samuel Marsh. 
Horace B. Claflin. 
Levi P. Morton. 
Daniel F. Appleton. 
Oswald Ottendorfer. 
Charles Lanier. 
General Winfield Scott. 
Abraham Lincoln. 
William B. Dana. 
James B. Colgate. 
Charles G. Landon. 
George Washington. 
Chester A. Arthur. 
J. F. D. Lanier. 
Robert Ainslie. 
D. WiUis James. 
George F. Vietor. 
William F. Havemeyer. 
Major- General Alexander 

McDougall. 
John Sloane. 
Grover Cleveland. 
A. Barton Hepburn. 
Charles M. Leupp. 
Vernon H. Brown. 
Gustav H. Schwab. 
John Crosby Brown. 
Isidor Straus. 
William Butler Duncan. 
Sereno S. Pratt. 
James J. Hill. 
George Wilson. 
George A. Heam. 
James Talcott. 



I 



\ 



Sculpture 



Alexander Hamilton. 
De Witt CUnton. 
John Jay. 
Abram S. Hewitt. 
Jonathan Goodhue. 



George Griswold. 
George Washington. 
Benjamin Franklin. 
Robert B. Potter. 



,1,. 

i 

i 



U 



rr 



'I » 



I r 



I i 



I f 



IX 



|t ! i . 



,. \ 



I 



PUBLICATIONS BY THE CHAMBER 

In addition to Annual Reports published regularly since 1858, 
the Chamber has issued the following special publications: 

Colonial Records of the New York Chamber of Commerce, 1768- 
1784, by John Austin Stevens, Jr. 

History of the Chamber of Commerce, 1 768-1856, by Charles 
King. 

Arbitration Records of the Chamber of Commerce, 1 779-1 792. 

Commercial Arbitration, 191 1. 

Rules for the Prevention of Unnecessary Litigation, 191 7. 

Opening of Building of the Chamber of Commerce of the State 
of New York, 1 768-1902. (Contains also 1902 Annual Ban- 
quet.) 

Unveiling of the Statues of the Chamber of Commerce, 1903. 
(Also contains 1903 Annual Banquet.) 

Presentation of the CUnton Vases and Stuart's Portrait of Wash- 
ington, 1908. 

Rapid Transit Report, 1905. 

A Pledge of International Friendship, 1901. 

One Hundred and Thirty-second Anniversary of the Founding of 
the Chamber of Commerce, April 5, 1900. 

The Atlantic Cable Projectors, 1854-1895. 

Portrait Gallery of the Chamber of Commerce, 1890. 

Unveiling of the Statue of William E. Dodge, 1885. 

Banquet to Honorable Whitelaw Reid, Minister to France, 1892. 

Banquet to Foreign and United States Naval Officers, 1893. 

Banquet to Honorable Carl Schurz, 1899. 

Proceedings at Annual Banquet, 1890-1913 inclusive, and 1915- 
191 6 inclusive. 

Monthly Bulletins, April, 1909, to date. 



296 



INDEX 



h 



: 

iii 



I 



I.* 



INDEX 




II ii 



„ { 



Adams, Henry, on American and Brit- 
ish shipping, 48 . __ 
Adams, John, 147; his picture of New 
York in i774, 25-27; reply of, to 
Chamber's declaration of loyalty, 50 
Adams, John Quhicy, 55 
Admission fee, 3, 7, 230, 251, 252 
Alabama, the, acts of piracy of, 81, 82; 
destroyed by Kearsarge, 83, 84; 
claims, awarded United States, 85 
Alaska boundary question, 206 
Alaska- Yukon Exposition, 215 
Albany Chamber of Commerce, 175 

Algerines, 41 ^ . -j 4. 

Alsop, John, 25, 34; first president 

under revived charter, 40 
Alverstone, Lord, 141 
Ambassadors, at annual banquets, 213 
American Seaman's Friend Society, 

176 
Anderson, Major," 73, 74 ^ 
Anglo-French Finance Commission, 

216 , 

Anniversary of founding of Chamber, 
looth, 91; committee on celebra- 
tion of isoth, 270 
Annual report of the Chamber, first, 

68-70 
Appeals, Committee of, 123 
Arbitration, Committee of, 30, 53, S°t 
60, 62, 120-127, 268; election of, 
122, 123; proposals for compulsory, 
121,122; records of, found and pub- 
lished, 120, 121; Court of, created, 
124; international, 126 
Arthur, Chester A., gratitude of, for 
Chamber's confidence, 97; hon- 
orary member of the Chamber, 97; 
tribute to, 97, 98; address of, at 
dedication of Washington statue, 
133; address recognizing services of 
Chamber, 135, 136; portrait of, 158 
Atlantic cable, 69; laying of, 128^131 
Austria, Chambers of Commerce in, 2 
Avebury, Lord, 141 

Bache, Mr., 14 

Bakers, regulations concemmg, 31 



Balfour, Rt. Hon. Arthur James, 216; 

his address at reception to War 

Commission, 217; speech of, at 

luncheon, 218 
Bank, Federal Reserve, report and 

resolution on, 223, 224 
Bank, memorial favoring a national, 

62 
Bank of England, 141 
Bank of New York, 43, 52, 62; orgam- 

zation of, 44 . , 

Bank of the United States, memorial 

against repeal of charter of, 53 
Bankruptcy, request for national law 

concerning, 53, 54 , . _ 

Banquets of the Chamber of Com- 
merce, commemorating evacuation 
of New York, 135, 136; eariiest an- 
nual, 179, 180; ambassadors at, 213; 
civil and military ofl&cers at, 179; 
annual, abandoned in 1773, 180; 
Fourth of July, 181; to Washington, 
35-37 147, 182; to merchants, 182; 
resumed in 1873, as permanent in- 
stitution, 182; the modem annual, 
182; influence of modern, 183; earh- 
est of the modem, 184-188; York- 
town centennial, 186, 187; to French 
delegation, 189-193; oi 1887, 194- 
196; of 1888, 197-199; of 1889, i99» 
200; of 1890, 201-204; of 1892 and 
1893, 205; of 1896, 205, 206; of 
1898, 206; of 1901, 207, 208; of 
1902, 208; of 1904, 210, 211; of 
190S, 211-213; of 1906 to 1913, 213; 
omitted in 1914, 213; of 191S. 213 
Barge canal construction, 223 
Baring Brothers, 201 
Bartholdi, A., speech of, at banquet, 
192; letter from, presenting Sevres 

vase, 192 ^ . e 

Battenberg, Prince Louis of, reception 

to, 215 
Beck, James M., 213 
Beecher, Henry Ward, 136 
Beekman, Henry R., 106 
Belgium, fund for relief of sufferers m, 

171 

299 



l) 



\ 



» 



W'^ i 



300 



INDEX 



' if 



lu 




h 



in 



Bellows, Rev. Dr. H. W., 185 

Bensel. John A., 226 

Benson, Egbert, 37 

Berlin Chamber of Commerce, 161 

Bigelow, John, 185 

Bills of exchange, 21 

Blackballing, 7, 59 

Blackwell, Thomas L., 143 

Blagge, John, 40 

Blaine, James G., tribute to Chamber 

by, 185 
Blair, John, 148 
Bliss, Cornelius N., 137; his tribute 

to President Arthur, 97, 98 
Blunt, Mr., 63 

Bolton & Sigel's restaurant, 144, 145 
Bonded Warehousemen, 176 
Boston, 22, 26, 27 
Bradford's CoflFee House, 181 
Brady, Judge, 185 
Brassey, Lord, 143; his tribute to the 

Chamber, 140; reception given by, 

142 
Bread, regulation of price and quality 

Bread casks, construction and price 

of, 18, 19 
Bright, John, resolution concerning, 

78; letter from, 78, 79; portrait of, 

158 

Bristow, Caleb, 129 
British, occupancy of New York, 28- 
33; evacuation of New York, 3St 34> 
13s, 136; privateering, 32, 33 
British Ministry of Munitions, Com- 
mission of, 219 
British Peace Commission, 194 
British War Commission, 216-218 
Broome, John, 40 
Bryce, James, 213 
Buckminster, Mr., 202 
Buffalo Chamber of Commerce, 175 
Building, permanent Chamber of 
Commerce, subscription of fund for, 
157; description of, 157, 158; dedi- 
cation of, 158-161 
Buildings, height of, 223 
Burrstones, French, importation of, 20 
Business men, to aid government, 167 
Butler, Governor Benjamin F., 136 
Butler, Nicholas Murray, 213 
By-Laws of Chamber of Commerce, 
249-261; revision of 1787, 43; 
changes in, in 1818, 52, 53; revised 
in 1828, 58; motions to amend 4th 
article of, 59; amended in 1854, 67 



Cable, Atlantic, 69; laying of, 128-131 

Cambon, Jules, 158, 161 

Camp Whitman, Committee on in- 
vestigation of, 270 

Canada, commercial union with, 197, 
198; fisheries controversy with, 194, 
197; treaty of reciprocity with, 68 

Canal, construction, 95, 223; Panama, 
101-103; Ring frauds, 94, 95 

Canal Act of 191 2, 102 

Cape, John, his bill for banquet, 36, 

37 

Cape's Tavern, 35-37 

Carnegie, Andrew, 141, 143, 213 

Carroll, Dr., 49 

Cartaret, the, 32 

Carter, James C, 196 

Casks, bread, construction and price 
of, 18, 19 

Catskill Water Supply System, the, 
225, 226 

Chadwick, Charles N., 226 

Chagres River, 55, 56 

Chamber of Commerce of New York, 
oldest institution of its kind, i; in- 
dependence of, I, 2; purpose and 
plan of, 2, 3; founding of, 2-4, 229- 
232; first home of, 4; 2d and 3d 
meetings of, 6; 2d home of, 8; atti- 
tude toward British taxation, 10, 11; 
royal charter granted to, 12; public 
service of, during colonial period, 
17-24; stand for sound money, 17, 
18, 23, 42, 114-119; devotion to 
welfare of the community and fair 
dealing in trade, characteristics 
of, 18-22, 29, 40; during Revolu- 
tion, 28-33; loyal to British, 29-33; 
reorganization of, as patriotic body, 
39-5 1 ; petition of, for confirmation 
of charter, 39, 40; name changed un- 
der State charter, 40; first meeting 
under revived charter, 40; address 
to Congress on subject of advance- 
ment of commerce, 41 ; readmission 
of former members, 43; indifference 
among members, in 1788, 43; Pur- 
chase of one share of bank stock by, 
44; action concerning Jay treaty, 
47; declaration and resolution as to 
misunderstandings with France, 50; 
no meetings between 1806 and 1817, 
51; assets of, in 1817 and 1818, 52; 
purchase of shares in Eagle Fire 
Insurance Company, 52; rental of 
room in Tontine Coffee House, 53: 



INDEX 



301 



memorials to Congress on various 
trade and commerce matters, 53; 
attitude toward tariff, 53, 62, 63; 
many memorials to Congress in 
1822 and 1823, 54; attitude toward 
free trade, 54, 55, 63; first meeting 
in Merchants' Exchange, 55; ex- 
penses of, in 1827, 57; suggests can- 
didates for Court of Common Pleas, 
57; consulted as to changes in judi- 
ciary system, 57; petitions of, to 
Congress regarding harbor improve- 
ment, 60; steps taken in 1840 to 
extend usefulness of, 61, 62; assets 
in 1841, 62; action to improve trade 
and commerce, 65; effort, in 1854, 
to extend usefulness, 65, 66; mem- 
bership in 1856, 68; annual report 
published by, 68-70; support of 
government in 1861, 71-76; resolu- 
tion concerning government loans, 
74; resolution concerning legal- 
tender, 76; resolutions of 1863, on 
state of the country, 77; resolution 
concerning John Bright, 78; reso- 
lutions in praise of Farragut, 79; 
memorials on subject of harbor de- 
fense, 85; resolutions on receiving 
news of Lee's surrender, 86, 87; 
memorial to Lincoln, 88; support 
pledged to President Johnson, 89; 
efforts to restore friendly relations 
between North and South, 90, 91; 
resolutions of 1865, pledging re- 
newed support to government, 90; 
one hundredth anniversary of 
founding of, 91; efforts to advance 
trade and commerce, 92; reforms in 
city government accomplished by, 
92-95; a non-political body, 92; 
fund raised by, to investigate Tam- 
many misrule, 93; action in Canal 
Ring frauds, 94, 95; addresses and 
resolutions on death of Garfield, 96, 
97; support pledged to President 
Arthur, 97; support of government 
on question of war with Spain, 99- 
loi; services of, in creating an un- 
derground railway, 106-113; atti- 
tude toward specie payments, 114; 
support of President Cleveland, 117, 
118; opposition to free silver, 115- 
117, 119; in campaign of 1900, 119; 
services in presidential campaign of 
1896, 117, 118; success of system of 
arbitration, 1 20-1 2 7 ; project of lay- 



ing cable supported by, 1 28-131; 
Washington and Sherman statues 
presented to city by, 132-138; en- 
tertained by London Chamber of 
Commerce, 139-143; early tem- 
porary homes of, 144-154; need of 
permanent home felt, 155; building 
fund subscribed by, 157; resolu- 
tions pledging support of govern- 
ment in war with Germany, 165, 
166; patriotic services in war with 
Germany, 164-168; relief funds 
raised by, 169-172; first annual 
banquets of, 179, 180; first dinner 
in honor of government of United 
States given by, 180, 181; banquets 
given by, from 1787 to 1805, 181, 
182; modem banquets given by, 
184 et seq.; influence of modem 
banquets of, 182, 183; formal re- 
ceptions given by, 215-219; vari- 
ous reports of, on subjects of special 
interest, 223, 224; services of, in 
construction of water-supply sys- 
tem, 225, 226 

Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. Joseph, at 
annual dinner of Chamber, 194; his 
address, 195, 196 

Chambers of Commerce, European, 
I, 2 

Chambrun, Comte de, 215 

Champlain monument, 215 

Charity Fund, Committee on, 268 

Charleston, S. C, fimd for earthquake 
sufferers in, 171 

Charter, the original, 12-14, 57; de- 
scription of, 13; disappearance of, 
14; text of, 233-241 ; confirmation 
of, 39, 40; text of the reaflirmed, 
242-248 

Chest, treasurer's, 6, 231 

Chicago, relief of fire sufferers in, 170 

China, consular agents to, 64; treaty 
with, 69 

Chinese Military and Naval Mission, 
216 

Chittenden, S. B., 91 

Choate, Joseph H., on Alabama award, 
85; on Hay-Pauncefote treaty, 102, 
103; speech at banquet commemo- 
rating evacuation of New York, 136; 
official reception given by, 139; at 
London banquet, 140-142; his ad- 
dress, 142; comment of, on London 
visit, 143; compliment paid by, to 
Mr. Jesup, 143; address of, in pre- 



1 1 

y 



302 



INDEX 



INDEX 



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I 



if 



\i ' i 



senting vases and portrait, 162, 163; 
at preparedness meeting, 165; at 
banquet of 1879, 185; his tnbute to 
Chamber, 212, 213; reception to, 
216; last speech of, 218, 219 

Cholera scare of 1892, the, 95 

Cigars, early use of, 9 

City cleaning, 30 

City College, i77 , , , . ^ ^ , 

City Hall, meeting held m, 61; Park, 

City Magistrate Courts, establishment 

CivU War, the, 71-86 

Claflin, John, 107 , , ^ , , 

Clarke, Bishop, of Rhode Island, 211 

Clay, Henry, 55 
Clayton-Bulwer treaty, the, loi 
Clearing House Loan Committee, no 
Clerk, duties of, 61 ^ , _, 
Cleveland, Grover, and the Sherman 
Act 116; Washington statue un- 
veiled by, 133; at commemoration 
of British evacuation, 130;. nis 
recognition of Chamber's services in 
sound-money fight, 117; letter of, 
declining to accept banquet, 118, 
119; his message to the Chamber, 
194, 195; speech of, at banquet of 
1889, 199; at banquet of 1890, 201; 
speech of, at banquet of 1892, 205; 
address of, at dedication of Cham- 
ber of Commerce buildmg, 159; 
portrait of, 158 
CUnton, De Witt, portrait of, 158, 
statue of, 58, 161, 162; tnbute to, 
c8' vases presented to, 102, 103 
Clmton, Governor George, banquets 
given to Washington by, 35-38, 147 
CUnton Hall, meetings in, 68 
Cobden, Richard, portrait of, 158 . 
Coins, fixed value for, 21, 23, 40; cir- 
culation of foreign, 23; pluggmg 

CoUector of the Port of New York , 1 76 
College of Commerce and Admmistra- 

tion, 177 ,T 1 

College of tiie City of New York, 177 
Collyer, Rev. Robert, 186 

" Colonial New York," quoted, 5, 9, 27 
Colonies, letter suggesting umon ot 

the, 147, ISO ^ ^ . ^ 
Columbus, descendants of, 215 
Columbus Centennial ExposiUon, 205, 

215 



Commerce, 41, S3. 54, 65, I9S, iQ^, 
European Chambers of, t, 2; French 
Minister of, i; Paris Council Gen- 
eral of, I , . . ^' r" 1 

Commerce and Admimstration, Col- 
lege of, 177 _ _ , 

Commerce and Civics, Museum ot, 

Commerce and manufactures, ad- 
dresses on, 141, 142 

Commercial arbitration, 120 et seq. 

Commercial Education, 177; Com- 
mittee of, appointed, 178, 268 

Commission, rates of, 21, 43 

Committee of Appeals, 123 

Committeeof Arbitration, constituted, 

12^- first refusal to abide by de- 
cision of, 123; act of Legislature 
concerning decisions of, 124; re- 
established in 1910, 124, 125; vari- 
ety of disputes settled by, 125; ef- 
fectiveness of, 126; wide influence 
of, 126, 127 
Committee of Seventy, 93 , ^ 
Committees of the Chamber of Com- 
merce, 256, 266-270; duties of, 257- 

259 
Commodities, regulation of, 31, 43 

Common Pleas, Court of, 57 
Congress, banquet in 1785 to, 180, 181 
Conservation of State Waters, L^ds, 

and Forests, Committee on, 269 
Constabulary, a State, Chamber s ad- 
vocacy of, 224, 225 
Constitution, the, 171 ^ , 

Continental Congress, first, 150; ban- 
quet to Massachusetts delegates to, 

25, 26, 147 

Cooper, Mayor Edward, 185 

Cooper, Peter, 128-130 

Cornwallis, Lord, 191 . 

Correspondence, Committee of, ap- 
pointed, 147 . ^ f «j 

Coudert, Frederic R., 191; his ad- 
dress at Statue of Liberty banquet, 

189, 190 _ . 

Council General of Commerce, Pans, i 
Court of Arbitration created, 124 
Cowper, William, 196, , . ., ^ 
Cox, S. S., on the Smitii family, 198 

CrSgw, John, first president of Cham- 
ber of Commerce, 3, 10-12; autiior 
of "Declaration of Rights and 
Grievances," 10; speaker of the 
Assembly, 1 1 ; remained out of New 



303 



\ 



■ I ! 



York during British occupancy, 28; 
portrait of, 91 
Cuba, relief fund for poor in, 171 
Currency, gold and silver, efiforts to 
improve character of, 23 ; fixed rates 
for, 23, 43; paper, in the colonies, 
17, 18; memorial against paper, 42, 

43 

Curtis, George William, 196, 201 ; ora- 
tion of, at Washington statue dedi- 
cation, 133-135; speech of, at 
Statueof Liberty banquet, 191; his 
tribute to Washington Irving, 202, 
203 

Gushing, William, 147 

Custom-house, 58, 59 



Darien, Isthmus of, 55 
"Declaration of Rights and Griev- 
ances of the Colonists in America," 

10 
Delafield, Colonel Richard, 85 
De Lancey, Etienne, 36, 144, 145 
Delegations, powers of, 261 
Delmonico's, banquets at, 135, 186, 

189, 201 
Democracy, John Morley on, 210 
Depew, Chauncey M., address of, on 

presentation of picture of projectors 

of Atlantic cable, 130 
De Saune, Commander, 190 
Desbrosses, Elias, 3 
Dewey, Commodore, 100 
Diplomacy, Secretary Hay on, 207, 208 
Diplomatic and consular efficiency, 

223 
Disloyal utterances, report on, 168 
Disputes, Committee on, 30, 53, 58, 

60, 62, 120 
Dix, John A., 185, 213 
Dock Street, 145 
Dodge, William E., 91, 16a 
Doorkeeper, 8, 232 
Dorchester, Lord, 46 
Duane, James, 37, 150; John Adams's 

estimate of, 25 
Dues, amount of, 3, 61-63, 65, 66, 251, 
252; unpaid, in 1788, 44; collected 

in 1856, 68 
Dunmore, Lord, 180 
Durand, Sir Mortimer, 213 
Dutch Church, the old, 154 

Eagle Fire Insurance Company, 52, 

60, 62 
Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, 2 



Edison, Thomas A., 213, 214 
Edson, Franklin, 133 
Education, Board of, 174, i75. '78 
Edward VII, King, 139 
Elections, John Morley on, 210; mu- 
nicipal, state, and national, 93 
Elevated railway system, 105 
Eliot, Charies W., at banquet, 201; 

his address, 202 
Ely, Mayor, 185 
Engines, steam, 68 
England, A. B. Hepburn's tribute to, 

142; Bank of, 141 
Englishmen in New York, 5 
Erie Canal, 42, 65, 162 
Erie railroad, building of, 59, 60 
Estimate and Apportionment, Board 

of, 177 
European, Chambers of Commerce, 

126; mercantile associations, i, 2; 

War, 164-168, 213, 226 
Evarts, William M., 185; his address 

at first of modern banquets, 184; 

address at Yorktown anniversary 

banquet, 187; address at Statue of 

Liberty banquet, 190 
Everett, Mr., 129 
Executive Committee, 266 
Ex-Presidents, Cleveland on, 199 

Fagnani, J., portraits by, 158 

Fairchild, Secretary Charles S., 162, 
194 

Fancher, Judge Enoch L., 124 

Farley, Archbishop, 138 

Farragut, Admiral, resolutions extol- 
ling, 79; letter of acknowledgment 
from, 79, 80 

Federal Reserve Bank, report and 
resolution on, 223, 224 

Federal Shipping Board, 167 

Fees, amount of, 3, 7, 230, 251, 252 

Field, Cyrus W., 128; dinner to, 129; 
painting as memorial to, 129-131 

Field, David Dudley, 130 

Field, Justice Stephen J., 130 

Finance and Currency, Committee on, 
266 

Financial crisis of 1890, 201 

Fines, for tardy and absent members, 
6, 7, 30, 232; for non-attendance 
discontinue, 44; amount of, col- 
lected from 1822 to 1836, 60 

Fire Department, 68 

Fire insurance, first company organ- 
ized in New York, 24 



I 



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1 



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304 



INDEX 



INDEX 



305 



Fire of 1835, the, 153 
Fire Underwriters, Board of, 225, 226 
Fisheries question, the, 194, 197, 198 
Fishery, appropriation to encourage, 

23, 24; effect of privateers on, 33 
Floods, Western, relief of sufferers in, 

171 
Florida, the, 81 

Flour, regulation of price and quality 
of, 18-20, 31; inspection system, 
20; efforts to improve, 53 
Folger, Charles J., 133 
Food-Supply and Prices, Committee 

on, 270 
Foreign Commerce and the Revenue 

Laws, Committee on, 267 
Forest conservation, 223; Committee 

on, 269 
Fort Pickens, 73 
Fort Sumter, 71, 73 
Foster, Secretary Charles, 205 
Fourth of July banquets, 181 
France, Chamber of Commerce in, i; 
Minister of Commerce in, i; duties 
levied by, 53; mercantile associa- 
tions in, i; relations between United 
States and, in 1798, 50; fund for 
flood sufferers in, 169; relief of 
Franco-German War sufferers in, 
170; Treaty of Alliance with, 186, 
187; delegates from, bringing Rodin 
bas-relief, 215; Statue of Liberty 
delegation from, 189-193; visitors 
from, at Yorktown anniversary ban- 
quet, 186 
Francis, Samuel, tavern of, 145-149; 

in Washington's service, 146 
Franco-German War, 170 
Franklin, Benjamin, 208, 212; stove 

invented by, 8 
Franklin House, the, 146 
Fraimces, Samuel, 35 
Fraunces's Tavern,first homeof Cham- 
ber, 4; banquet in, 35; history of, 
144-149; sessions of Third Provin- 
cial Congress held in, 147 ; Washing- 
ton's headquarters, i47> ^49; mem- 
orable events in, 146, 147; dimen- 
sions of Long Room, 148; damaged 
by fire, 148; restoration of, 148; 
atmosphere of, 149 
Free silver, opposition to, 115-117, 

119 
Free trade, 54, 63 
Fremont, General, 214 
Freneau, Philip, 146 



Front Street, store in, where records 
were found, 14 

Gage, General, 179 

Galveston flood, fund for sufferers 
from, 171 

Galvin, John F., 226 

Garfield, President, assassination of, 
96; fund raised for family of, 96, 1 7 1 

Gaynor, Mayor, 213; report on rapid- 
transit problems requested by, 223 

Gerard, Ambassador James W., re- 
ception to, 216 

Germany, Chambers of Commerce in, 
2; war with, 164-168, 213, 226 

Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, 2 

Gold, 43; standard, 115 

Grant, General, 87; address of, at 
banquet, 187, 188; portrait of, 158 

Granville, Lord, 47, 48 

Grasse, Count de, descendants of, 186 

Great Britain, Boards of Trade in, 2; 
taxation of colonies by, 10, 11; com- 
mercial treaty with, 42, 45-48; re- 
strictions upon commerce by, 41; 
controversy with, 51; and the Ala- 
bama piracy, 81-85; John Morley 
on relations between United States 
and, 211 

Greater New York charter, 108 

Greer, Bishop, at banquets, 210, 213; 
his anecdote of Bishop Clarke, 211 

Gregory, Attorney-General, 214 

Griggs, Governor John W., at ban- 
quet, 205; his tribute to the Cham- 
ber, 206 

Griscom, Clement A., 141 

Grocers' Guild, banquet in hall of, 140 

Guerriire, the, 172 

Gulf of Mexico, 54, 55 

Halifax explosion, fund for sufferers 
from, 171 

Hall, Mayor Oakey, 93 

Hamilton, Alexander, Bank of New 
York organized by, 44; defense of 
Jay Treaty by, 47; and Captain 
Randall's will, 174; invited to 
Fourth of July banquet, 181; por- 
trait of , 15, 16, 114, 158; statue of, 
58; statue of, lost in fire, 153; un- 
veiling of statue, 161, 162 

Hancock, General Winfield S., at ban- 
quets, 184, 185; portrait of, 158 

HaQcock, John, 42 

Hanotaux, Gabriel, 215 



Harbor, fortification of, 49; report of 
Committee on Defenses, 85; De- 
velopment Commissions, 167; im- 
provements, 65, 223 

Harbor and Shipping, Conunittee on, 
267 

Harrison, Benjamin, 197 

Harrison, Robert, 148 

Harvard graduates, Dr. Eliot on, 202 

Havemeyer, Mayor, 185 

Hay, Secretary John, 102, 103; on 
diplomacy, 207, 208; tribute to 
McKinley, 207 

Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, the, 101-103 

Hayes, President, 185 

Heckmann, Paul, 161 

Hell Gate Channel, 64 

Hepburn, A. Barton, at London ban- 
quet, 141; his tribute to England, 
142 

Herbert, Sir Michael Henry, 158, 161 

Herschell, Lord, address of, 206, 207 

Hewitt, Mayor Abram S., 196; ser- 
vices of, in construction of subway, 
105-111; on war with Spain, 100; 
medal presented to, no, in; 
statue of. III 

Higgins, A. Foster, 141 

Hill, James J., portrait of, 158 

Homberg, Octave, 216 

Howard, General O. O., 199 

Hudson, Captain, 128, 129 

Hudson-Fulton celebration, 215 

Hughes, Ball, statue by, 153 

Hugot, M. v., 161 

Hunt, Wilson G., 130 

Huntington, Daniel, painting by, 129 

Hyde, John, 152 

Hydrographic Department in Na- 
tional Observatory, 64 

Importations, taxation of, 40 
Income-tax collection methods, 223 
Independent New York Gazette, 34 
Industrial Problems and Relations, 

Committee on, 270 
Inman, John H., 107 
Insurance, Committee on, 267; fire, 

first suggestion of, in New York, 24; 

War Risk, 165 
Internal Trade and Improvements, 

Committee on, 267 
Interstate Commerce Commission, 224 
Iron, duty on railroad, 64 
Irving, Washington, genius of, 202, 

203 



Irving Hall, 91 

Isere, French national ship, 189, 190 

James, Thomas L., 186 

Japan, treaty with, 69 

Japanese, Commissioners to Alaska- 
Yukon Exposition, Finance Com- 
mission, and Imperial War Missions, 
receptions to, 215 

Jay, Fred., 37 

Jay, John, 147, 150; envoy to Great 
Britain, 45, 46; governor of New 
York, 48; statue of, 58, 161, 162 

Jay Treaty, the, 45-48; provisions of, 

Jersey, paper currency of, 17, 18 

Jesup, Morris K., President of Cham- 
ber, 107; formal presentation by, 
of Atlantic cable picture, 129; guest 
of London Chamber of Commerce, 
139-143; his speech at banquet, 141 ; 
his speech at Lord Mayor's recep- 
tion, 143; Mr. Choate's compliment 
to, 143; at dedication of building, 
158; Clinton statue presented by, 
162; vases and Washington portrait 
bequeathed to Chamber by, 162, 
163; tablet commemorating ser- 
vices of, 163 

Jesup, Mrs. Morris K., vases and por- 
trait presented by, 162 

Johnstown flood, relief of sufferers 
from, 171 

Jones, Major-General Daniel, 29 

Journal of Commerce, 63 

Judiciary system, 57 

Jusserand, J. J., 213, 215 

Kearsarge, the, 83, 84 

Kennedy, John S., 162 

Kent, Chancellor, 174 

Kent, Sir Stephenson, luncheon to, 219 

King, Charles, 67 

King, James Gore, 141 

Knox, John Jay, 133 

Lacombe, Admiral, 189, 190 
Lafayette, descendants of, 186; G. W. 

Curtis's address on, 191 
La Flore, French flag-ship, 189 
Lamar, Secretary L. Q. C, address of, 

at annual dinner, 194, 195 
Lancashire, relief sent to, 169 
Lancey, Etienne de, 36, 144, 145 
Lane, George W., 133 
Lane, Secretary, 214 







4", 



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si' I 



p:i 



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306 



INDEX 



Lang, Lord Archbishop Cosmo Gor- 
don, reception to, 219; address of, 
220, 221 

Langdon, Woodbury, 107 

Lansdowne, Lord, 102, 140 

Lazear, Dr., 49 

Lee, surrender of, 86 

Legal tender, resolution concerning, 
76 

Lesseps, Count Ferdinand de, 191 

Lexington, battle of, 28 

Lighthouses, 60 

Lincoln, President, 71, 72; assassina- 
tion of, 87; memorial to, 88; funeral 
ceremonies of, 89; portrait of, 158; 
anecdote of, 214 

Livingston, Philip, John Adams's esti- 
mate of, 25 

Loan of 1861, subscriptions to, 73 

Loans, government, resolution con- 
cerning, 74 

Lodge, Senator, 213 

London, bankers, 201, 202; commer- 
cial education in, 177; Lord Mayor's 
reception, 142. 143; seal found in, 14; 
Washington portrait found in, 162 

Ijmdon, the, 146 

London Chamber of Commerce, 2, 
161; banquet given by, 139-142; 
luncheon given by, 143 

Low, Abiel A., 91, 128, 187; protest 
of, against Alabama acts, 82; sug- 
gestion of, for Chamber of Com- 
merce building, 156 
Low, Isaac, 150; loyal to British, 28, 
29, 34; John Adams's estimate of, 
26; protest against privateering, 
32; motion of, for compulsory ar- 
bitration, 121 
Low, Seth, 107, 133, 137, 138; Presi- 
dent of the Chamber, 151; services 
of Chamber acknowledged by, 159; 
address of, at banquet, 213; anec- 
dote of Lincoln told by, 214 
Lower Wall Street Business Men's 

Association, 151 
Luzerne, Chevalier de la, 36 

Maine, eastern boundary of, 47 

Mansion House, London, reception at, 
142 

l^Ianufacturers' Association of Brook- 
lyn, 225, 226 

Marine Society, 174-176 

Maritime Association of New York, 

i75» 176 



Mass-meetings in Union Square, 76, 77 
Massachusetts delegates to Conti- 
nental Congress, 25, 147 
Maury, Lieutenant, 130 
McClellan, Mayor, 210, 225, 226 
McCuUoch, Hugh, 185 
McDougall, Alexander, 150 
McKinley, President, Chamber's sup- 
port of, 99, loi; letter of appreci- 
ation from, 99; Secretary Hay's trib- 
ute to, 207; tariff bill of, 201 
Meat, regulation of price of, 30 
Meath, Earl of, 199 
Medals distributed by the Chamber, 

73, 74, III, 112, 129 
Meetings of Chamber of Commerce, 
account of, 9; dayof, 66, 67; daily, 
61; bimonthly, 52; quarterly, 3; 
hour of, 43, 44, 52, 58; time and 
place of, 230, 250; reported in news- 
papers, 63 
Members of Chamber of Commerce, 
election of, 230, 250, 251; honorary, 
251; roll of, 271-292 
Membership of Chamber of Com- 
merce, 6, 8; persons eligible to, 7, 
58, 62; in 1849, 64; in 1853, 65; in 
1856, 68; in 1858, 70 
Memphis, fund for sufferers in, 171 
Mercantile Associations, European, 1, 2 
Mercantile Library Association, estab- 
lishment of, 54 
Merchant Marine, American, Com- 
mittee on, 270; report of, 222; train- 
ing of ofl&cers in, 175 
Merchants, New York, agreement of, 
concerning trade with Great Britain, 
10 
Merchants' Association, 176 
Merchants' Bank, the, 60, 153; cost 

of new structure, 153 
Merchants' Coffee House, banquets in, 
147, 150, 151, 180; Governor Col- 
den's portrait in, 15; a famous his- 
toric building, 150; rent of room in, 
29; destroyed by fire, 151; tablet 
commemorative of, 151 
Merchants' Exchange, 57, 62; proj- 
ect for building, 53; first meeting 
in, 55; Governor Colden's portrait 
in, 15; destroyed by fire, 14, 16, 60, 
153; description of, 152, 153; cost 

of, 153 
Mersereau, William H., 148 
Messina, Italy, fund for earthquake 

sufferers in, 171 



INDEX 



307 



Military training, universal, 165 
Miller, Attorney-General, W. H. H., 

205 
Miller, Jacob W., 176 
Miller, Justice, 199 
Mitchel, Mayor, 214 
Morgan, J. Pierpont, portrait of, 

158 
Morley, John, address of, 210, 211 

Morse, Professor, 130 
Morton, Levi P., 186 
Municipal credit in subway construc- 
tion, 106 
Museum of Commerce and Civics, 177 
Mutual Life Building, the, 154 

National Guard and Naval Militia, 

223, 224; Committee on, 269 
Nautical School, organization of, 174; 

Council of the, 175; prizes for, 175; 

under State control, 175; Board of 

Governors of, 175 
New Jersey, Harbor Development 

Commission, 167; paper currency, 

17, 18 ^ 

New York, in colonial times, 3, 5, 22 
et seq., 144; John Adams's views of, 
25, 26; during British occupation, 
28-33; British evacuation of, $$, 
34; fortification of harbor of, 49; 
Harbor Development Commission 
of, 167; War Board for Port of, 167, 
168 

New York Central Railroad Company, 

105 
New York City Central Underground 

Company, 105 

New York City Rapid Transit Com- 
pany, los 

New York State Bar Association, 126 

Newman, Captain Charles, 32 

Newspapers, acts of Chamber adver- 
tised in, 22, 23; disputant's names 
in, 53, 122; files of, kept, 61; meet- 
ings reported in, 63; early banquets 
not reported in, 179, 180, 182; no- 
tice of dinner to Congress in, 180; 
Fourth of July banquet advertised 
in, 181 

Niagara, the, 128 

Niagara Falls, ship canal around, pro- 
posed, 59 

Noble, Secretary, 199 

Northcliffe, Lord, 213 

Northwest, fund for fire sufferers in, 
170 



Observatory, National, at Washing- 
ton, 64 

O'Conor, Charles, 185 

Odell, Benjamin B., Jr., 162 

Ofl&cers of Chamber of Commerce, 
first, 3; duties of, 231, 252-254; 
election of, 230, 249; election of 
special, 259; list of, 262-266 

Ogden, James De Peyster, 91 

Olney, Richard, 210 

Opdyice, George, 91 

Opdyke, Mayor, 184 

Order, rules of, 260 

Oreto, the, 82 

Orr, Alexander E., 107, 109, no, 131, 
157; on municipal credit, 106; 
speech of thanks for medals, 112; 
letter of, to Cleveland, 118; tablet 
commemorating services of, 163 

Outerbridge, E. H., address of, to 
British War Commission, 216, 217; 
address at reception to Archbishop 
Lang, 219, 220 

Panama, Canal tolls, T01-103; city 
of, 55; Isthmus of, 49, 55, S6 

Panic, of 1837, 141; of 1893, 116 

Paper currency, 17, 18; memorial 
against, 42, 43 

Paris, Chamber of Commerce, 161; 
Council General of Commerce, i; 
Treaty of Peace of, 212 

Parker, Alton B., 162 

Parsons, William Barclay, 107 

Pauncefote, Lord, 102, 103^ 

Peace, arbitration, international, 126, 
223; Commission, British, 194 

Pearl Street, 145 

Pennsylvania, paper currency of, 17 

Pension bill, 201 

Perit, Pelatiah, address of, 71, 72; 
Seward's letter to, 73; John Bright's 
letter to, 79 

Phelps, Hon. E. J., address of, 199, 
200 

Phelps, Royal, 133 

Philadelphia, 19, 20, 22, 147, 150; 
Chamber of Commerce, 55; con- 
vention of 1820 in, 53 

Philippine independence, resolution 
on, 224 

Physical training, universal, 165 

Pierrepont, Edwards, 185 

Pilots, 60, 65; Board of Commission- 
ers of, 173, 269 

Pintard, John, 24 



•r^, 



308 



INDEX 



INDEX 



309 



I 



I* 

ml 





1 





Pirrie, William J., speech of, at Lon- 
don banquet, 141 

Pitt, William, and the Jay Treaty, 46- 
48 

"Pledge of International Friendship, 

A," 143 
Police, a State, 224, 225 
Police-court system, abolition of the, 

94 
Police Department, investigation of, 

93 
Port of New York, War Board for, 

167, 168; pilots for, 173 

Porter, General Horace, 185; speech 
of, 190, 191, 212; reception to, 216 

Portland, Maine, fund for fire suffer- 
ers in, 170 

Portraits, collection of, 157, 158, 293- 

295 
Postal facilities, improved, 223 
Post-ofl&ce, building, erection of, 59; 

in Merchants' Exchange, 153 
Potter, Bishop H. C, 138, 185, 201 
Pratt, Matthew, portrait by, 15, 158 
Preble, Captain Edward, dinner to, 

182 
Preparedness, national, 165 
Presidential campaign of 1896, 117, 

118; of 1900, 119 
Privateering, American and Bntish, 

31-33; captures in, 150; memorial 

against, 67 
Profits, restriction of war, 167 
Proposals, regulations regarding, 6, 7 
Province Arms, the, 36 
Provincial Congress, Third, sessions 

of, 147 
Public Service Commission, 108, 125 
Publications by the Chamber of Com- 
merce, 296 

Quarantine, 60; a national, 95 
Queen Charlotte's Tavern, 145 
Queen Street, 145 

Queen's Head Tavern, the, 145, 146 
Quorum and adjournment, 64, 231, 

259 



Railroad labor arbitration, 223 
Railway War Council, 168 
Randall, Captain Richard, 173, I74 
"Rapid Transit, Chamber of Com 
merce of the State of New York,' 



}t 



112 



Rapid Transit Commission, appomt- 
ment of, 105, 106; personnel of, 



107; subway constructed by, 107, 

108 ; medals presented to, in , 1 1 2 ; 

additional routes proposed by, 108 
Rapid transit problems, report of 

committee on, 222, 223 
Rapid Transit Subway Construction 

Company, 108 
Ray, Cornelius, 52 
Reading, Earl of, 216 
Receptions, formal, given by the 

Chamber, 215-219 
Records, findmg of, early, 14 
Red Cross, contribution to, 213 
Redfield, Secretary, 213 
Refreshments, provision for, at sixth 

meeting of Chamber, 6 
Reid, Whitelaw, 205 
Report of the Chamber, Annual, 68-70 
Reporters, newspaper, 63 
Revenue, memorial on collecting, 53 
Revolution, the, 13, 15, 25, 28-33, 4i 
Rice, George S., 107 
Richmond, Va., fund for sufferers in, 

170 
Rives, George L., 107 
Roberts, Marshall O., 130 
Robertson, General, 33 
Rochambeau, descendants of, 186, 

187 

Rodin, bas-relief by, 215 

Rollit, Sir Albert K., 158, 161 

Room, first meeting, 3, 4 

Roosevelt, Colonel Theodore, com- 
ment of, on bill for dinner to Wash- 
ington, 36-38; at dedication of 
Chamber's building, 158; welcome 
to foreign guests, 159; address of, 
at dedication banquet, 160, 161; 
his tribute to the Chamber, 161; 
letter from, 208, 209 

Roosevelt, Isaac, 28, 34-37, 44 

Root, Senator Elihu, 138, 158, 213, 
214; on Panama Canal tolls, loi; 
bill of, repealing toll-exemption 
clause, 102-104; reception to, 216 

Rosen, Baron, 213 

Royal Exchange Building, 8, 10, 15; 
erection of, 149 ; the Great Room in, 
150; Governor Colden's portrait in, 

IS 
Ruggles, Samuel B., 95, iiS 
" Rules for the Prevention of Unneces- 
sary Litigation," 126 
Russia, reception to commissioners to, 
216; fund for famine sufferers in, 
171 



Safety-First Problems, Committee on, 

270 
Sailors, fund for relief of destitute, 176 
Sailors* hotels and boarding-houses. 
Board of Commissioners for licens- 
ing of, 176, 269 
Sailors' Snug Harbor, 173, 174 
Saint Gaudens, Augustus, Sherman 

statue by, 136, 137 
St. Mary's, school-ship, 175 
St. Peter's Union for Catholic Seamen, 

176 
St. Pierre, Martinique, fund for suf- 
ferers in, 171 
Salisbury, Lord, 218 
San Domingo, relief of fugitives from, 

169 
San Francisco earthquake, fund for 

sufferers from, 171 
Sandeman, Albert G., 141, 143 
Sandy Hook, 32 
Saune, Commander de, 190 
Savannah, fund for yellow-fever suf- 
ferers in, 170 
Schofield, General, 201 
School-ships, 175 

Schurz, Cari, 99, 185, 187, 199, 201 
Scofield, General, 214 
Scott, General, portrait of, 158 
Sculpture owned by Chamber, 295 
Seal of Chamber of Commerce, the 

original, 14; finding of, 14 
Seamen, protection of American, 49 
Seamen's Christian Association, 176 
Seamen's Church Institute, 176 
Sears, Isaac, 40 
Secretary, a corresponding, appointed, 

67 

Semmes, Captam, 81 

Sevres National Manufactory, 192 

Seward, William H., letters of ac- 
knowledgment from, 73, 90 

Shaw, Charles A., 226 

Sheridan, General, 87; portrait of, 158 

Sherman, General W. T., 87, 170; at 
banquets, 185, 199, 201; addresses 
of, 197, 203, 204; portrait of, 158; 
statue of, 132, 136-138 

Sherman, Secretary John, 185; por- 
trait of, 114, 158 

Sherman Act, the, 115, 201; repeal of, 
116 

Ship purchase bill, 222 

Shipments during War, Committee on 
Problems of, 164, 165, 269 

Shipping, American, 222; effects of Jay 



Treaty on, 46-48; Federal Board, 
222 

Shubrick, Lieutenant John F., gift to 
family of, 171, 172 

Siam, treaty with, 69 

Silver, bill, Sherman, 201; free coin- 
age of, 114-1 17, 119; standard rate 

for, 43 

Simmons, J. Edwards, 226 

Slaves, sold in Merchants' Coffee 
House, 150 

Slemmer, Lieutenant, 73 

Smith, Charles Stewart, 107; Cham- 
ber's attitude in municipal affairs 
stated by, 94; address of, 201, 202 

Smith, Goldwin, address of, 197, 198 

Smith, Sidney, 203 

Smuggling, resolution concerning, 41 

Social insurance, 223 

Society for Promoting the Gospel 
among Seamen, 176 

Sons of Liberty, the, 146 

Sons of the Revolution, Society of the, 
Fraunces's Tavern restored by, 144, 
148 

South, the, relief funds sent to, 170 

Southwest, fund for yellow-fever suf- 
ferers in, 171 

Spain, war with, 99-101 

Specie payments, resvunption of, 114, 

141 
Spring-Rice, Sir Cecil, 216 

Stagg, John P., 59 

Stamp Act, the, 10, 150 

Starin, John H., 107 

State, constabulary, 224, 225; road 
improvement, 223 

State and Municipal Taxation, Com- 
mittee on, 268 

State elections, 93 

Staten Island, 173 

Statue of Liberty, banquets on arrival 
and on dedication of, 189-192 

Statues owned by Chamber of Com- 
merce, 295 

Steam-engines, 68 

Steam Navigation, National Board of, 

175 
Steinway, William, 107 

Steuben, Baron de, descendants of, 

186, 187 
Stevens, John Austin, 79, 187 
Stevens, John Austin, Jr., historian of 

the Chamber, 91 ; his " Colonial New 

York" quoted, 5, 9, 27 
Storing of food, 30 






I 

i i 






< ,' 



./i 



i! 



11 



! > 



\ 



310 



INDEX 



Storrs, Rev. Dr. Richard S., 185, 187 

Stove, the Franklin, 8 

Strangers, privileges of, 261 

Strauss, Charles, 226 

Street cleaning, 94 

Strong, Mayor William L., 94 

Stuart, Gilbert, Washington portrait 
by, 158, 162, 163 

Sturges, Jonathan, 91 

Subway, route and plans determined 
up)on, 107; completed in 1904, 108; 
charter of 1868 for, 105; municipal 
credit in construction of, 106; tablet 
in City Hall station of, in, 112 

Supreme Coiirt of the United States, 
entertainment in honor of, 147 

Tablets, commemorative, in, 151, 163 
Tammany rule, abuses under, 93 
Tariff, bill of 1820, 53; the Clay bill, 
55, 62, 63; McKinley bill, 201; 
Commission, 223 
Taxation, 54; of the colonies, 10, n; 
of importations, 40; State and mu- 
nicipal, 223; Committee on, 268 
Taylor, Moses, 130 
Tea, accounts as to English cargoes 

of, 146, 147 

Tea-drinking in early New York, 5 

Tennessee, East, relief sent to, 170 

Thurman, Mr., motion of, concerning 
fire insurance, 24 

Tilden, Governor, 94, 185 

Times, New York, 93 

Ton, a standard, 21 

Tongue, William , license of, restored, 3 1 

Tonti, Lorenzi, 151 

Tontine Association, the, 151 

Tontine Building, the, 152; Governor 
Colden's portrait in, 15 

Tontine Coffee House, 54, 57; meeting- 
room in, 53; erection of, 151; Eng- 
lish traveller's description of, 152; 
banquet in, 182 

Trade, commission rates in, 43; ef- 
forts to advance, 22, 23, 92; fair 
dealing in, 18, 20-22 

Treasurer, chest kept by, 6, 231; first 
audit of accounts of, 7 

Troy, N. Y., relief fund for, 169 

Trumbull, John, portraits by, 15, 158 

Trustees of the Real Estate, Board of, 
254-256; members of, 268 

Tweed Ring frauds, the, 93 

Underwood, Mr., 129 



Underwriters, Board of, 176 
Underwriters' Building, 67, 154 
Union Defense Committee, 73 
United States Bank, 52 
Universal physical and military train- 
ing, 165 

Valeniine^s Manual, 148 

Van Dam, Anthony, 3 

Vase, Sevres, presented by French 

delegates, 192 
Vases, presented to De Witt Clinton, 

162, 163 
Venezuela question, the, 140 
Venta Cruz, 55 

Veragua, Duke of, reception to, 215 
Victoria, Queen, 139 
Vigilance Committee, the, 146 
Volunteers, funds in aid of, 73 
Von Pless, Prince Hans Heinrich, 158, 

161 

Wakayama, M., 184 

Wakeman, Abram, 151 

Waldorf-Astoria, banquet at, 160; re- 
ception at, 215 

Wall Street, portraits foimd in garret 
in, 16; Lower, 151 

Wallace, Hugh, 3 

Waller, Thomas W., 136 

Walton, Jacob, 14 

Walton, William, 13 

Walton House, die, 13, 14; Bank of 
New York in, 44 

War, European, 164-168, 213, 226 

War Board for Port of New York, 
formed, 167; membership of, 168 

War Council of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church, 219 

War of 1812, 51 

War profits, restriction of, 167 

War Risk Insurance, Bureau of, 165 

War-ships, banquet to officers of, 205 

Ward, J. Q. A., 133, 136 

Warehouses, 65; joint commission for 
regulation of, 176 

Waring, Colonel George E., 94; fund 
for family of, 171 

Washington, President, banquets to, 
35-37, 147, 151, 180; reception to, 
by New York officials, 151; posses- 
sion of New York taken by, 34; 
reasons of, for sending Jay to Eng- 
land, 45-47; attitude of, toward 
preparedness, 46; neutral policy 
adopted by, 50; his liking for 
Samuel Francis, 146; farewell of, 



INDEX 



311 



to his officers, 147; his recognition 
of debt to France, 186; and Lafay- 
ette, 191; death of, 51; statue of, 
132-135; Stuart portrait of, 158, 

162, 163 
WaterSupplySystem,Catskill, 225,226 

Waterfront improvements, 223 

Waters and Lands, Conservation of, 

223; Committee on, 269 
Webster, Daniel, 55 
Welles, Gideon, 83 
Wells, David A., 185 
West Indies, 46, 48, 54 
Wetmore, Prosper W., early records 

found by, 14; portraits found by, 16 
Wheat, 18-20, 53 
White, Andrew D., 185 
Whitman, Governor, 225 
Wilson, George, 158 
Wilson, Henry, 185 
Wilson, James, 148 
Wilson, Postmaster-General WiUiam 

L., 205 



Wilson, President, and repeal of toll- 
exemption clause, 103, 104; reso- 
lutions endorsing action of, toward 
Germany, 165, 166; pledge of sup- 
port to, 166 

Windom, Secretary William, 186 

Windsor Castle, 139 

Winn, Captain Isaac L., 14 

Winslow, Captain John A., rewarded 
for destruction of the Alabama, 83- 

85 

Wood, General Leonard, at prepared- 
ness meeting, 165; at banquet, 214; 
on a State police. 225 

Wood, William P., 161 

Woodhouse, Mr., 129 

Workmen's Compensation Legisla- 
tion, 223; Committee on, 269 

Yellow fever, in New York, 48, 49; 

fund for sufferers in South, 170, 171 
Yorktown, celebration of victory at, 

186, 191 



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